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MODERN  SPIRITISM 


MODERN  SPIRITISM 

ITS  SCIENCE  AND  RELIGION 


M.D. 

Vice-President  Victoria  Institute,  &c.,  &c. 

Author  of 

"The  Unconscious  Mind," 
"Borderlands  of  Science," 
"The  Goal  of  the  Race" 


AUTHORIZED  AMERICAN  EDITION 

WITH  A  FOREWORD 

BY 
NEWELL  DWIGHT  HILLIS 

Pastor  of  Plymouth  Church. 


PHILADELPHIA 

P.   BLAKISTON'S  SON  &  CO 

1012  WALNUT  STREET 
1920 


PREFACE 

MODERN  custom  doubtless  suggests  that  it  would 
be  well  that  a  book  like  this,  by  an  author  who  has 
not  hitherto  written  on  the  subject,  should  be  com- 
mended to  its  readers  by  a  "Foreword"  from  some 
well-known  authority. 

The  author  may  be  pardoned  if  he  very  briefly 
states  why  this  preface  is  written;  and,  in  doing  so, 
he  would  also  recommend  that  it  be  read  before  the 
book,  and  not,  as  is  now  so  common,  afterwards. 

Even  previously  to  entering  on  a  medical  career 
the  author  began  to- study  psychological  problems, 
with  the  result  that  many  years  ago  he  wrote  the 
first  English  book  on  "The  Unconscious  Mind."  A 
paper  he  read  on  the  subject  at  the  Harveian  Society 
was  received  with  howls  of  derision,  and  the  authori- 
ties were  rebuked  for  allowing  it  to  offend  the  ears 
of  its  learned  members ;  all  of  which  shows  to  our 
wiser  generation  the  archaic  condition  of  the  psycho- 
logy of  that  day.  It  is  true  I  do  not  regard  the 
unconscious  mind  as  cosmic,  as  is  the  subliminal 
mind  of  F.  W.  H.  Myers,  and  to  a  large  extent  the 
subconscious  mind  of  Thomas  Jay  Hudson,  of 
America;  but  substantially  it  is  the  same. 

Professor  William  James  has  written  scathingly 
of  what  was  the  condition  then  of  psychological 
science  for  want  of  this  knowledge. 


vi  PREFACE 

Once  it  is  recognised  that  consciousness  is  not 
co-extensive  with  mind,  but  only  reaches  less  than 
half  the  way,  it  can  be  readily  conceived  that  the 
word  "subconscious"  is  the  best  for  that  mental 
region  which  can  at  times  be  brought  within  the 
range  of  consciousness  by  forced  introspection; 
while  "unconscious"  is  a  far  better  word  for  that 
part  which  never  by  any  effort  can  be  brought 
within  consciousness.  If  consciousness  be  called  the 
"eye"  of  the  mind  it  clears  our  thoughts,  for  much 
exists  psychically  that  is  beyond  mental  vision . 

When  the  reader  grasps  the  fact  that  the  most 
modern  views  of  Spiritist  psychical  phenomena  show 
that  the  medium's  trance  is  very  largely,  at  any  rate, 
a  condition  of  unconscious  mental  activity,  with 
more  or  less  complete  abeyance  of  consciousness, 
the  relevancy  of  the  above  statement  to  our  subject 
will  be  readily  admitted. 

Psychological  problems  have  indeed  for  over  thirty 
years  been  to  me  an  absorbing  study,  including  all 
those  connected  with  Spiritism,  many  of  which,  I 
freely  confess,  are  not  yet  fully  solved. 

Borderland  questions  have  always  proved  a  great 
attraction,  and  what  I  call  the  true  Spiritualism  of 
the  Divine  Revelation  has  long  provided  for  me  what 
I  have  ever  felt  to  be  the  most  elevated  study  of 
which  the  human  mind  is  capable. 

This  book  has  been  written  at  the  very  special 
and  earnest  request  of  a  friend  well  known  in  the 
medical  world,  whose  views  as  to  the  urgency  of 
presenting  to  the  public  some  fairly  comprehensive 
monograph  on  the  subject  at  this  time  coincided 
with  my  own. 


PREFACE  vii 

The  recent  accession  to  the  ranks  of  this  doubtful 
cult  of  such  well-known  and  honoured  names  as 
Sir  Oliver  Lodge  and  Sir  A.  Conan  Doyle  has  un- 
doubtedly acted  as  a  stimulus  to  Spiritism. 

A  more  critical  view,  however,  of  their  work,  as 
given  towards  the  close  of  this  book,  seems  to  throw 
some  doubt  on  the  value  of  their  accession  to  the 
deeper  interests  of  this  new  "Religion." 

It  is  most  unfortunate  for  its  success  that  Spiritism 
seeks  to  be  both  a  science  and  a  religion,  which  is 
impossible.  So  long  as  Sir  Oliver  Lodge  was  content 
to  be  scientific,  which,  in  this  connection,  was  but  a 
very  short  time,  so  long  did  he  advance  the  scientific 
status  of  Spiritism.  But  when  he  propounded 
dogmas,  and  when  Sir  A.  Conan  Doyle  asserted  tout 
court  that  "Spiritism  is  a  religion,"  science  was 
arrayed  against  both;  and  Sir  William  Barrett,  in 
his  earnest  attempts  to  confine  its  objects  to  scientific 
investigations,  was  defeated. 

Its  present  condition  is,  therefore,  undoubtedly 
chaotic,  and  the  benefit,  or  otherwise,  that  it  de- 
rives from  its  recent  distinguished  converts  will 
depend,  in  the  author's  estimation,  entirely  on  the 
light  in  which  one  regards  Spiritism:  whether  that 
in  which  Sir  William  Barrett  sees  it,  or  that  in  which 
it  seems  to  fascinate  Sir  A.  Conan  Doyle. 

Thirdly,  and  lastly,  to  round  off  this  lay  sermon, 
I  have  been  studying  for  many  years  what  may 
without  offence  be  termed  borderland  disease,  that 
is,  those  conditions  which  are  somewhat  casually 
included  under  the  vague  term  of  "functional 
nerve  disorders."  Here  conditions  allied  to  the 
trances  of  mediums  are  by  no  means  rare,  and  their 


viii  PREFACE 

continuous  study  over  so  long  a  period  has  certainly 
evolved  an  amount  of  analytical  po\ver  in  dealing 
with  them  that  is  not  inherent.  All  this  has  helped 
me  now.  While  I  have  not  disguised  my  own  beliefs, 
I  am  in  hopes  that  some  at  least  of  my  readers  will 
admit  that  I  have  presented  the  case  for  and  against 
Spiritism  fairly  and  squarely.  If  Spiritism  were  all 
fraud,  it  would  be  no  real  danger  to  the  nation;  it 
is  because  it  is  not  that  this  book  is  written.  My 
work  is  to  show  that,  however  bad  fraud  may  be, 
the  actual  action  of  evil  spirits  is  infinitely  worse. 
The  subject  on  which  I  have  been  most  dogmatic,  is 
the  one  point  on  which  I  find  myself  in  full  agreement 
with  the  leading  Spiritists — and  that  is  its  great 
hidden  dangers. 

I  am  glad  this  book  appears  after  the  Great  War, 
and  not  before,  for  amidst  its  many  evils  the  war 
has  at  least  done  one  good.  It  has  made  the  simple, 
the  straightforward,  the  true,  of  greater  value  than 
formerly,  and  men  to-day  are  not  likely  to  accept 
the  claims  of  Spiritism,  however  endorsed,  without 
full  investigation. 

All  the  author  asks,  therefore,  is  that  the  book 
be  read  in  such  a  spirit  and  without  prejudice, 
for  he  then  believes  it  probable  that  his  readers 
can  come  to  no  other  conclusion  than  that  at  which 
he  himself  has  arrived. 

ALFRED  T.  SCHOFIELD,  M.D, 

10,  HARLEY  STREET, 
LONDON. 


FOREWORD 

Cicero's  question,  "Is  there  a  meeting  place  of  the 
dead?"  asked  two  thousand  years  ago,  has  suddenly 
taken  on  new  meanings.  The  death  of  his  daughter, 
Tullia,  filled  the  heart  of  the  great  Roman  lawyer  with 
acute  anguish.  He  read  Socrates'  arguments  for  the 
immortal  hope  over  and  over  again,  but  with  an  in- 
creasing feeling  that  the  argument  was  incomplete. 
Now  comes  a  moment  when  three  millions  of  homes 
in  Britain,  France  and  the  United  States  have  lost 
the  noble  boy  whose  future  before  that  day  of  battle 
held  only  high  hopes  for  all  who  loved  the  young  sol- 
dier. Many  a  father  and  mother  and  lover  have 
coerced  the  lips  into  silence,  and  with  a  solemn  pride 
oft  exclaimed,  " God's  soldier  let  him  be!  I  could  not 
wish  him  to  a  fairer  death!"  And  then  comes  a  re- 
vulsion, with  the  awful  sense  of  loneliness,  and  the 
emptiness  of  life. 

The  inevitable  result  of  the  world  war,  therefore, 
and  of  the  hillsides  of  Belgium  and  France,  billowy 
with  the  graves  of  the  noble  dead,  was  a  revival  of 
spiritualism.  Everywhere  men  are  saying,  "Does 
the  soul  survive  bodily  death?"  Is  immortality  the 
next  step  in  the  ascending  progress  of  the  soul  ?  Is 
it  true  that  there  is  an  unseen  realm,  within  the  reach 
of  an  outstretched  arm?  Since  without  the  optic 
nerve  there  is  no  summer's  landscape,  is  it  possible 
that  most  of  us  have  no  spiritual  nerve  toward  the 
realm  immortal,  while  now  and  then  an  occasional 
person  with  a  clairvoyant  sense  receives  hints  of  an 


x  FOREWORD 

unseen  world  ?  Suddenly,  scientists  are  answering  the 
question  in  the  affirmative.  Maeterlinck,  Conan 
Doyle,  Sir  Oliver  Lodge,  and  thousands  of  others  in- 
sist that  death  does  not  end  all.  The  arguments 
based  upon  instinct,  the  ascent  of  man,  and  the 
principles  of  philosophers,  have  reinforced  the  teach- 
ings and  experience  of  Jesus  for  multitudes  who  hold 
to  the  Christian  faith.  Meanwhile,  the  spiritualist 
has  come  to  the  front.  It  is  said  that  the  number  of 
persons  who  attended  spiritualistic  meetings  on  a 
single  memorial  Sunday,  equalled  the  number  of  those 
that  attended  the  Christian  churches  in  the  city  of 
London  on  the  self-same  day.  Even  though  we  ques- 
tion the  accuracy  of  this  estimate  it  still  remains  true 
that  uncounted  multitudes  are  interested  in  the 
ouija  board,  in  spirit  photography,  in  seances,  and 
in  mediums,  who  claim  to  speak  while  in  a  trance,  and 
to  be  voicing  a  message  from  the  dead.  It  has,  there- 
fore, become  important  to  the  last  degree  that  the 
scientist  and  the  experts  in  physiological  psychology, 
and  the  students  of  nervous  phenomena  should 
analyze  this  mass  of  material,  sift  the  wheat  from  the 
chaff,  prick  the 'bubbles  that  have  been  blown  by  en- 
thusiasts, and  spread  out  before  the  normal  mind  the 
few  facts  that  are  left.  Dr.  Schofield's  book  repre- 
sents the  patient,  long-continued  investigations  of  a 
man  singularly  gifted  by  nature  and  trained  by  long 
experience  to  distinguish  between  that  which  is 
seeming  and  that  which  is  real.  His  volume  has 
received  a  warm  welcome  from  the  most  thoughtful 
people  in  Great  Britain,  and  it  deserves  careful 
scrutiny  of  Americans  who  are  interested  in  the  border 
land,  where  the  seen  and  the  unseen  meet  and  mingle. 

NEWELL  DWIGHT  HILLIS. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PACE 

I.  THE  GUILD  OF  THE  SILVER  FERN    ....  i 

II.  THE  HISTORY  OF  MODERN  SPIRITISM     .    .  17 

III.  THE  PHENOMENA  OF  MODERN  SPIRITISM  .  27 

IV.  THE  SPIRITISTS'  OTHER  WORLD      ....  53  ;=» 
V.  EXPLANATIONS  OF  SPIRITIST  PHENOMENA  72 

VI.  SPIRITISM  AND  THE  DEAD 97     ^^ 

VII.  POSSESSION  AND  ALLIED  STATES     .    .    .    .113 

VIII  .  SECOND  SIGHT  AND  APPARITIONS    ....  136 

IX.  COLLECTIVE  HYPNOSIS      155 

X.  THE  DANGERS  OF  SPIRITISM 175 

XL  THE  FAILURES  OF  SPIRITISM 198 

XII.  SPIRITISM  AND  CHRISTIANITY 206 

XIII.  TRUE  SPIRITUALISM 235    (  N)  T 

INDEX 251 


CHAPTER  I 
INTRODUCTORY 


A  FEW  years  ago  I  got  an  invitation  to  attend  a 
gathering  of  the  members  of  the  Guild  of  the  Silver 
Fern,  in  order  that  I  might  tell  them,  as  the  herald 
in  England  of  the  unconscious  mind,*  whether  the 
voices  which  they,  as  Spiritists,  f  heard  were  sub- 
jective, i.e.,  from  themselves,  or  objective,  that  is, 
from  some  other  agency. 

The  Unconscious  Mind 

Most  of  my  readers  will  at  least  have  heard  of 
F.  W.  H.  Myers,  Vice-president  of  the  Psychical 
Research  Society,  even  if  they  have  not  read  his 
great  book  on  "Human  Personality. "J  In  this,  at 
considerable  length,  he  explains  what  he  calls  "sub- 
liminal consciousness,"  or  consciousness  "below  the 
threshold,"  i.e.,  below  the  cognizance  of  our  ordinary 
consciousness — in  other  words,  an  unconscious  con- 
sciousness; and  this,  I  gather,  he  believes  is  in 
each  person  a  part  of  what  he  calls  a  great  cosmic 
mind. 

*  "The  Unconscious  Mind,"  A.  T.  Schofield,  M.D.  Hodder 
and  Stoughton.  1898. 

t  Modern  and  short  term  for  Spiritualists. 

JHe   is  the  author  also  of  that  unique  poem  "St.  Paul." 


MODERN  SPIRITISM       f 

Now  a  "consciousness"  of  which  I  am  uncon- 
scious is,  in  relation  to  myself,  unconsciousness; 
hence  my  term  "the  unconscious  mind,"  which  I 
much  prefer  to  "subliminal,"  or  "sub-conscious." 
It  seems  to  me  that  we  have  but  one  mind  (I  know 
of  no  cosmic  mind,  other  than  God  Himself)  which, 
however,  in  us  exists  in  three  conditions. 

Regarding  consciousness  as  ' '  the  eye  of  the  mind, ' ' 
by  which  we  can  see  mental  processes,  and  comparing 
the  mind  as  a  whole  to  an  island,  I  would  regard  the 
first  mental  condition  of  full  consciousness  as  com- 
parable to  that  part  of  the  island  which  is  always 
above  water.  The  second  condition  of  sub-con- 
sciousness I  would  describe  as  that  part  of  the  island 
which  is  sometimes  visible  and  sometimes  invisible 
according  to  the  state  of  the  tide.  In  us  this  repre- 
sents that  part  of  our  mentality  which  can  be 
brought  into  consciousness  by  strong  introspection, 
but  which  is  usually  outside  it. 

The  third  condition  of  unconsciousness  (Myers' 
subliminal  consciousness)  is  the  rest  of  the  island 
under  water,  which  is  always  invisible.  To  me,  as 
I  think  I  have  demonstrated,*  the  mental  processes 
that  are  wholly  unseen  by  the  eye  of  consciousness 
are  just  as  truly  psychic  and  purposive  as  those  that 
we  see  and  know.  The  fact  of  their  being  unseen 
does  not,  as  so  many  seem  to  think,  make  them  either 
unreal  or  non-mental. 

This  is,  perhaps,  a  long  enough  digression  to  make 
what  follows  intelligible. 

*"The  Unconscious  Mind." 


Meeting  of  the  Guild 

I  found  myself  in  the  evening  in  a  large  double 
drawing-room  in  the  south-western  district  of 
London,  some  sixty  or  seventy  of  the  Guild  being 
present,  including  some  well-known  Spiritists,  and  a 
few  others  distinguished  as  pioneers  in  Psychic 
Research  and  in  Theosophy.  I  was  at  once  asked 
to  open  the  discussion  on  the  subject — "Whether 
the  voices  heard  by  mediums,  or  the  messages 
received  through  the  various  media  of  movements, 
tappings,  and  automatic  writing  were  subjective — 
the  product  conscious  or  unconscious  of  human 
beings  in  the  room — or  of  some  other  force  outside 
themselves,  and,  therefore,  objective." 

I  said  that  I  should  much  prefer  to  hear  the  views 
of  experts  in  Spiritism  first  upon  the  subject,  and 
that,  if  they  would  kindly  open  the  discussion,  I 
would  speak  later  on.  This  was  agreed  to,  and  many 
views  were  advanced;  and  by  far  the  majority  were 
in  favour  of  spirit  communications  being  mainly 
from  some  other  spirit  than  the  medium's,  though 
I  was  surprised  to  find  the  subjective  view  was  also 
in  favour,  and  was  ably  supported.  When  I  rose 
to  speak  and  looked  round  upon  my  audience,  and 
considered  the  Quest  upon  which  they  were  em- 
barked, as  old  speakers  used  to  say,  "my  spirit  was 
stirred  within  me,"  and  I  asked  permission  to  make 
a  few  general  remarks  before  entering  on  the  impor- 
tant subject  of  the  evening. 

The  Great  Spirit  World 

I  said,  in  effect,  that  I  felt  sure  we  all  agreed 
that,  in  the  abstract,  Spiritism,  or  at  any  rate 

1—2 


4  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

Spiritualism,  was  the  highest  and  noblest  study 
that  could  engage  the  thoughts  of  mankind.  In 
its  true  meaning  it  is  to  seek  to  know  and  under- 
stand the  Father  of  spirits ;  it  is  to  seek  to  know 
and  understand  the  real,  the  true,  the  invisible,  the 
eternal;  for  all  that  we  know,  all  that  is  obvious — 
the  material  and  physical — are  not  the  real,  and  the 
things  that  are  seen  are  temporal. 

Not  only  so,  but  God  is  a  spirit,  and  in  the  Bible 
we  are  told  that  St.  Paul,  discoursing  on  Mars'  Hill 
to  the  philosophers  of  Athens,  desired  that  men 
should  "seek  God,  if  haply  they  might  feel  after 
Him,  and  find  Him,  though  He  is  not  far  from  each 
one  of  us."  Here  the  real  object  of  true  Spiritualism 
is  shown  and  enjoined;  and  we  ask  fearlessly,  Can 
anything  be  nobler  or  more  Divine  than  such  a 
quest  ?  I  think  not. 

'But,  alas!  when  we  turn  from  this,  and  con- 
sider what  so-called  Modern  Spiritism  has  become 
to-day  in  the  midst  of  great  Christian  nations, 
we  may  well  ask  if  we  have  not  succeeded  in  de- 
grading this  Spiritual  Cult  almost  beyond  recogni- 
tion. The  difference  in  the  concept  between  the 
words  "Spiritism"  and  "Spiritual"  to-day  is  only 
comparable,  to  a  Christian  mind,  to  that  between 
"Jesuit"  and  "Jesus."  Without  any  offence  to 
Catholics,  all  will  agree  as  to  the  contrast  of  the 
concept. 

Evil  Associations  of  Spiritism 

'  Is  there  in  this  company  one  Spiritist  who  has  not 
recoiled  with,  at  least,  disgust  from  the  puerile 
pranks,  too  often  steeped  in  falsehood  and  deception, 


INTRODUCTORY  5 

that  so  frequently  characterise  their  meetings,  and 
have  so  degraded  the  very  name  of  Spiritism  ?  And 
what  has  been  the  result  ?  What  is  the  net  outcome 
of  the  Quest  so  far?  Has  one  single  noble,  or  lofty, 
or  divine  thought  been  added  to  our  previous  con- 
cepts? On  the  other  hand,  have  we  not  been 
brought  into  the  closest  and  most  un desired  contact 
with  deception  and  fraud  of  an  undoubted  character ; 
and  too  often,  one  regrets  to  say,  with  evil,  malice, 
and  sometimes,  as  Mr.  Sinnet  has  testified,  of 
unspeakable  corruption  ?  One  is  brought  into  touch 
in  Modern  Spiritism  with  a  world  of  which  one  had 
no  previous  concept,  of  a  most  undesirable  nature, 
which  has  perhaps  been  best  described  by  Maeterlinck 
in  his  "Unknown  Guest." 

'It  is  true  that  indirectly  an  unseen  spirit  world 
has  thus  been  revealed  and  demonstrated  to  many 
who  utterly  denied  it  before;  but  the  net  result  of 
Spiritism  so  far  is  most  disappointing,  to  say  nothing 
of  its  undoubted  dangers  to  spirit,  soul,  and  body; 
which,  to  their  honour,  leading  Spiritists  are  among 
the  first  to  point  out. 

Voices  are  Often  Objective 

'Turning  now  to  the  immediate  question  of  the 
evening,  as  to  whether  the  communications  received 
by  mediums,  or  other  means,  are  subjective  or  purely 
objective,  my  reply  is  that  some  are  undoubtedly 
objective,  and  that  constantly  at  seances  spirits  other 
than  our  own  manifest  their  presence.  * 

'Setting  on  one  side  for  a  moment  those  supposed 

*  I  say  this  in  spite  of  what  I  shall  advance  later  on  of  the  part 
played  by  our  own  unconscious  mind. 


6  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

communications  which  are  produced  by  fraud,  and 
those  attributed,  often  erroneously,  to  telepathy  and 
various  forms  of  thought  transference,  there  remains 
a  certain  number  of  purely  objective  utterances, 
surely  the  result  of  intelligences  other  than  pur  own.* 
'  It  does  not,  of  course,  in  the  least  follow  that  such 
beings  are  desirable  or  helpful  in  any  way;  indeed, 
there  is  too  much  reason  to  believe  that,  in  perhaps 
the  majority  of  cases,  they  are  distinctly  injurious 
in  many  ways  that  I  cannot  now  describe. 

The     Apotheosis  of  Spiritualism 

'But  in  all  this  there  is  nothing  new.  Perhaps 
there  are  those  present  who  do  not  attach  any  special 
authority  to  the  Bible;  but  to  the  many  who  do,  it 
will  be  a  matter  of  great  interest  to  recall  that  it 
represents  God  ever  as  the  seeker  after  men.  He  not 
only  cares  for  them  in  every  possible  way,  but  is 
always  anxious  to  get  into  communication  with 
them.  What,  indeed,  is  prayer  (when  viewed 
rightly,  and  not  as  a  mere  question  of  asking  for 
favours),  but  a  true  spiritual  seance  in  the  highest 
sense?  Are  not  these  well-known  lines  illustrative 
of  this  as  to  prayer  ? — 

'  "Thither  by  faith  we  upward  soar, 

Till  time  and  sense  are  all  no  more, 
And  Heaven  comes  down  our  souls  to  greet, 
And  glory  crowns  the  Mercy-seat." 

'Such  is  nothing  less  than  the  apotheosis  of 
true  Spiritualism  as  divinely  taught  and  enjoined. 

*  During  the  war  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  there  was  a  great 
increase  in  the  subjective,  that  is,  messages  supposed  to  come 
from  others  which  were  really  suggestions  of  the  unconscious 
mind. 


INTRODUCTORY  7 

But  in  this  aspect  the  messages  from  our  world  to 
the  spirit  world  are  more  clear,  as  a  rule,  than  the 
responses,  which  our  dull  ears  are  so  slow  to  receive. 
'Let  us  look  at  the  subject  from  another  point  of 
view,  which  will,  I  think,  give  a  full  and  clear  answer 
to  the  question  I  have  to  answer. 

The  Rich  Fool 

'Those  who  are  familiar  with  the  Bible  will  remem- 
ber the  parable  of  "the  rich  farmer,"  or,  as  some 
have  it,  "the  rich  fool, "  for  he  was,  indeed,  both. 
For  any  who  cannot  recall  it,  I  may  say  the  story 
told  by  our  Lord  Christ  is  that  of  a  rare  phenomenon 
in  these  days — a  contented  farmer;  and  the  reason 
of  his  state  of  mind  was  not  far  to  seek.  His  "ground 
brought  forth  plentifully,"  and  as  he  stood  in  his 
farmyard  he  was  much  perplexed,  for  he  saw  at  once 
his  buildings  were  not  half  large  enough  to  hold  such 
a  bounteous  harvest.  So,  being  a  provident  man 
with  an  eye  to  the  future,  he  at  once  faced  the  prob- 
lem of  insufficient  "stedding."  Looking  around 
his  barns  he  planned  it  all  out  (you  can  see  him 
doing  it),  and  the  look  of  perplexity  gradually  changes 
into  one  of  satisfaction  as  he  sees  his  way  out. 

"This  barn  must  be  pulled  down  and  a  much 
larger  one  erected;  another  should  be  greatly  length- 
ened; additional  ones  should  be  built  in  spare  cor- 
ners." So  far,  so  good;  no  trace  of  any  foolishness, 
but  the  very  reverse — wise  foresight.  The  foolish- 
ness comes  when  he  begins  to  speak  to  his  soul. 
Like  many  others,  on  the  material  plane  he  is  all 
there;  but  on  the  spirit  plane  he  is  all  abroad! 


8  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

And  this,  not  because  his  soul  here  means  his 
"spirit,"  which  it  does  not,  but  because  of  two 
cordinal  errors.  The  one  that  his  life,  his  ego, 
himself,  can  certainly  look  forward  to  many  years 
of  ease;  whereas,  as  reminded  elsewhere  and  every 
hour,  we  "know  not  what  a  day  may  bring  forth." 
The  other  is  that  he  wholly  ignores  the  spirit  life  and 
its  requirements.  But  all  this  only  in  passing.  I 
hurry  on  to  what  follows:  "But  God  said  unto  him, 
Thou  foolish  one,  this  night  is  thy  soul  required  of 
thee." 

'This  marvellous  drama  is  lost  to  us  unless  we 
understand  the  phenomena  of  inaudible  voices, 
and  of  the  true  answer  to  the  question  concerning 
which  we  are  gathered  to-night. 

Our  Mediaeval  Bible 

'I  suppose  no  one  in  these  rooms  imagines  the 
Almighty  God,  in  some  human  form,  or  possibly 
some  supernatural  form,  such  as  we  commonly 
associate  with  angelic  beings,  appeared  to  this  farmer  ? 

'We  must  not  forget  to  note  here  the  curious  fact, 
often  overlooked,  that  the  Bible  we  use  is  not  in  our 
language  at  all,  but  in  the  mediaeval  English  of  300 
years  ago,  now  practically  obsolete;  with  the  result 
that  not  only  is  the  true  meaning  frequently  ob- 
scured, but  that  in  reading  it  we  find  ourselves  in 
a  mediaeval  atmosphere,  and  absolutely  out  of 
touch  with  modern  thought.*  The  result  is  that  in 
studying  the  Bible  we  conjure  up  mediaeval  pictures, 

*  We  often  think  this  is  due  to  the  Bible  itself;  whereas  it  is 
largely  on  account  of  the  mediaeval  English,  as  one  soon  finds 
who  reads  Dr.  Weymouth's  "Testament  in  Modern  English." 


INTRODUCTORY  9 

and  imagine  here  some  such  angelic  visitation  as  is 
recorded  elsewhere. 


'The  facts  were  probably  far  different,  and  much 
simpler.  The  farmer,  satisfied  with  his  building 
plans,  and  ready  now  for  his  supper,  would  turn 
back  towards  the  house  in  a  complacent  and  con- 
tented frame  of  mind,  and  certainly  not  contem- 
plating his  own  death.  If  one  of  us  had  at  that 
moment  been  standing  at  the  farmhouse  door,  it  is 
not  unlikely  we  should  have  seen  something  like  the 
following.  The  farmer,  slowly  approaching,  would 
suddenly  halt  in  the  middle  of  the  path,  and  his 
ruddy  brown  face  become  perceptibly  whiter  for  a 
moment;  the  colour  would  then  return,  and  he 
would  resume  his  walk.  When  he  reached  the  door, 
you  would  probably  comment  on  what  you  had  seen, 
and  ask  him,  "Why  did  you  stop  just  now  in  the 
middle  of  the  path  ?  You  looked  as  if  you  were 
deep  in  thought."  "  Did  I  ?  was  I  ? "  he  might  reply, 
in  rather  a  dazed  manner.  "Oh  yes,  I  remember, 
as  I  was  coming  up  the  path  a  strange  thought 
struck  me,  'Supposing  I  died  to-night  ? '  You  see  I 
am  just  returning  from  the  yard,  where  I  have  been 
planning  how  to  house  my  crops,  and  thinking  I  was 
in  for  a  good  time  for  many  years  to  come."  "I 
see,  I  see,"  the  friend  might  reply. 

A  Thought  Struck  Me 

'  Probably  it  was  in  some  such  manner  God 
spoke  then,  as  he  speaks  now,  every  day,  to  men. 
I  need  not  here  dwell  on  the  tragic  denouements 


io  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

—the  supper,  the  heavy  sleep,  the  vain  knocking 
on  the  door  in  the  morning,  the  forcing  of  the  lock, 
the  scared  faces,  the  still  form,  the  hush  of  death 
as  it  is  realised  that  the  farmer  has  suddenly  been 
called  to  his  account  from  the  midst  of  his  pros- 
perity. Here,  then,  is  the  solution  of  our  problem. 
We,  and  not  mediums  only,  do  hear  voices  other 
than  our  own;  and  to  do  so  it  is  by  no  means  nec- 
essary, or  even  desirable,  that  we  should  have 
seances,  or  needful  we  should  be  professed  Spiritists. 
Our  common  description  of  the  voice  of  God  by 
His  Spirit  is,  "a  thought  struck  me;"  that  is,  we 
describe  it  in  physical  and  objective  terms.  This 
is  significant  and  most  interesting. 

'God  is  ever  speaking  objectively  to  men  in  dreams, 
in  visions,  and  in  thoughts  that  strike  us.  The  Bible 
is  not  only  itself  the  voice  of  God,  as  all  Christians 
know,  but  this  voice  is  constantly  speaking  to  us  in 
other  ways,  and  is  so  represented  in  Scripture.* 

A  Noble  Study 

'If,  then,  the  great  Father  of  Spirits  deigns  thus  to 
speak  to  His  creatures,  does  it  not  seem  to  all  of  us 
that  the  highest  and  noblest  vocation  of  true  Spiri- 
tualism would  be  to  study  the  differences  between  ' '  I 
thought"  and  "a  thought  struck  me;"  between 
the  subjective  from  our  own  unconscious  mind  and 
the  objective  from  the  spirit  world.  And,  seeing 
that  Christianity  has  revealed  to  us  the  two  worlds 
of  spirits,  good  and  bad  (the  latter,  at  any  rate,  as 
many  Spiritists  will  admit,  amply  confirmed  by  the 

*  A  well-known  evangelist  told  me  that  one-third  of  those  he 
met  ascribed  their  conversion  to  visions  in  dreams. 


INTRODUCTORY  n 

experiences  of  modern  Spiritism),  might  not  a 
further  Quest  be  to  seek  the  best  means  to  become 
a  true  discerner  of  spirits,  so  as  to  be  able  to  dis- 
tinguish, first,  between  my  own  voice  and  another's, 
and,  secondly,  between  the  voices  of  good  and  evil 
spirits  ?' 

I  said  a  good  deal  more  on  the  facts  that  these 
objective  voices  generally  seem  to  speak  from  within 
— less  frequently  they  are  from  without.* 

Our  Father  in  Heaven 

If,  as  Scripture  tells  us,  the  bodies  of  Christians 
are  indeed  temples  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  it  is  clear  His 
dwelling-place  is  in  the  unconscious  mind  (F.  W.  H. 
Myers'  subliminal  mind),  and  this  for  a  most  ob- 
vious and  necessary  reason.  If  God  dwelt  inside 
us  in  the  conscious  mind,  we  could  not  fail  ever  to 
pay  adoring  worship,  and  to  pray  to  the  God  within ; 
whereas  our  prayer  is  to  be  addressed  to  "Our 
Father  which  art  in  Heaven,"  and  we  are  practi- 
cally unconscious  of  the  amazing  fact,  dogmatically 
stated  in  the  Bible,  that  all  Christians,  in  virtue  of 
the  New  Birth,  have  the  Spirit  of  Christ  dwelling  in 
them.  To  me,  and  perhaps  to  many  others,  this 
is  a  wonderful  proof,  not  only  of  the  fact  of  the 
unconscious  mind,  but  of  the  Divine  wisdom  in 
selecting  a  part  of  the  mind  outside  our  own  con- 
sciousness for  His  dwelling-place.  But  these  are 
all  great  subjects  for  study  which  I  earnestly 
commend  to  every  earnest  student  of  spirit  mys- 
teries, for,  I  doubt  not,  the  powers  of  the  uncon- 

*  See  "Another  World,  or  the  Fourth  Dimension."  D.  Allen 
&  Son,  40,  Museum  Street,  W.C.  Second  edition. 


12  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

scious  mind  can  really  solve  many  of  the  problems 
that  perplex  us. 

Two  Opposite  Directions 

I  was  agreeably  surprised  at  the  close  of  my 
words  to  find  that  many  came  up  and  thanked 
me  for  them  in  warm  terms,  while  others  equally 
warmly  expressed  their  own  views  on  Spiritism  and 
its  objects,  which  widely  diverged  from  those  I  had 
suggested. 

It  did  not  take  me  long  to  find  that,  in  this  Spiritist 
Society  of  the  Silver  Fern,  I  was  with  two  entirely 
different  sets  of  people,  with  different  objects  and 
different  destinations. 

Many  of  my  readers,  waiting  at  an  "island" 
platform  at  some  railway  station,  where  the  "down" 
trains  run  at  one  side  and  the  "up"  trains  in  an 
opposite  direction  at  the  other,  have  noticed  in  the 
waiting  passengers  two  distinct  classes.  If  the 
"down"  trains  run  to  the  seaside,  and  the  "up"  to 
town,  the  two  elements  in  the  crowd  are  clearly 
distinguishable.  Though  standing  at  the  moment 
side  by  side,  in  five  minutes  they  would  be  travel- 
ling in  opposite  directions,  never  probably  to  meet 
again.  The  importance  in  life  is  not  where  one  may 
be  found  at  any  particular  moment,  but  in  what 
direction  he  is  travelling.  It  was  so  in  these  drawing- 
rooms.  One  could  clearly  discern  that,  although  all 
were  together  in  the  same  society,  they  were  there 
for  two  opposite  reasons.  To  many  the  Silver  Fern 
represented  their  farthest  advance  towards  the  light 
• — the  spiritual  world,  God,  and  Christianity.  They 
had  been  either  materialists  or  absolutely  careless 


INTRODUCTORY  13 

as  to  things  unseen;  but  this  society  had  succeeded 
in  awakening  in  them  a  sense  and  a  belief  in  another 
and  a  higher  world,  and  possibly  prepared  their 
minds  for  an  intelligent  hearing  and  acceptance  of 
Christianity.  These  would  undoubtedly  be  regarded 
by  Christians  as  travelling  on  the  "up"  lines. 

On  the  Down  Grade 

The  rest,  and  probably  the  majority,  on  the 
contrary,  represented  lapses  from  the  Christian 
faith,  and  their  presence  that  night  their  acceptance 
of  modern  Spiritism  in  its  place.  To  believers,  the 
shifting  sands  of  the  vague  utterances  of  mediums 
seems  but  a  poor  and  doubtful  substitute  on  which 
to  build  one's  faith,  when  compared  with  what 
Gladstone  used  to  call  "the  impregnable  rock  of 
Holy  Scripture."  From  a  truly  spiritual  point  of 
view,  the  same  position  in  this  society  side  by  side 
represented,  in  the  one  case,  the  zenith,  and,  in  the 
other,  the  nadir  of  their  place  with  regard  to  Chris- 
tianity; for,  as  I  shall  hope  to  show  in  this  mono- 
graph, while  there  is  much,  very  much,  of  interest 
in  all  researches  into  the  unseen  and  unknown,  the 
Spiritist  faith,  which,  as  we  shall  see  is  gradually 
being  formulated  into  dogmas,  contradicts  cate- 
gorically, point  by  point,  all  the  fundamentals  of 
Christianity. 

True  Spiritualism  Wanted 

One  wonders  sometimes  if  it  is  too  much  to  hope 
for,  that  some  day  a  true  Spiritual  quest  may  be 
established,  not  for  necromancy,  nor  for  the  mounte- 
bank performances  so  common  to-day,  but  for  the 


14  MODERN   SPIRITISM 

serious  and  lofty  object  of  learning  more  of  the 
Father  of  Spirits,  of  the  Holy  Spirit  and  His  action 
in  connection  with  man,  with  other  phenomena  of 
the  spirit  world  which  everywhere  surrounds  us 
and  are  yet  so  imperfectly  understood  by  Christians. 
All  this,  and  much  more,  is  still  an  unexplored  region, 
and  awaits  some  such  concerted  action  as  I  have 
suggested. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  Modern-Spiritism,  with 
all  its  faults  and  follies,  has  done  much  towards  pro- 
moting a  general  consensus  that  there  is  life  after 
death,  and  a  vast  invisible  spirit  world;  and  so  far 
has  done  service  to  man.  More  we  cannot  say,  and 
we  think  in  these  pages  it  will  be  shown  that  much, 
alas!  of  its  work  is  not  only  evil  in  itself,  but  full  of 
mental  and  spiritual  dangers  of  the  gravest  character, 
too  often  ending  in  the  loss  of  reason,  to  say  nothing 
of  the  actual  physical  dangers  that  beset  it. 

Christianity  a  Living  Force 

It  will  be  noted  that  throughout  this  chapter  I 
speak  of  Christianity  as  a  still  living  force,  and  a 
living  faith,  and  of  the  Bible  as  the  Word  of  God,  in 
spite  of  the  bold,  but  most  erroneous,  assertions  of 
most  Spiritist  writers  that  the  old  faith  is  dead  and 
gone,  and  is  held  by  no  modern  thinker.  It  is  sur- 
prising to  find  the  well-known  method  of  Haeckel, 
of  putting  forward  unproved  ex-cathedra  statements 
as  well-known  scientific  facts,  repeated  by  Spiritist 
men  of  science  to-day,  after  the  exposure  of  Hseckel's 
procedure  in  the  "Riddle  of  the  Universe."  One 
has  but  for  one  moment  to  compare  the  leaders  of 
modern  Spiritism  with  the  leading  Christian  men 


INTRODUCTORY  15 

of  the  day  to  prove  that  Christianity  is  still  a  great 
and  living  force;  and  all  advanced  against  it 
requires  careful  proof  rather  than  irresponsible 
general  statements  and  unproved  assumptions. 
Personally  I  believe  that  never  since  the  apostles' 
days  have  there  been  so  many  true  evangelical 
Christians  in  the  earth  as  in  the  present  day  all  over 
the  world,  and  never  so  many  ready  to  die  for  the 
faith  that  is  in  them. 

The  Manual  of  True  Spiritualism 

We  shall,  therefore,  continue  to  take  Christianity 
as  the  faith  of  this  country,  and  the  Bible  as  the 
Word  of  God,  and,  in  doing  so,  we  come  across  an 
amazing  truth,  which  I  have  already  touched  on. 
For  Christianity  is  the  spiritual  faith,  and  the  Bible 
the  spiritual  book.  All  that  which  is  called  by  its 
leaders  "Modern  Spiritism"  seeks  to  prove  as  to 
existence  after  death  and  another  world,  the  Bible, 
from  cover  to  cover,  asserts  as  true,  and  is  a  common- 
place to  the  humblest  Christian.  Not  only  so,  but 
"where  there  is  no  vision,  the  people  perish,"  and  the 
Bible  is  full  of  spirit  visions  and  spirit  voices.  Many 
of  the  familiar  physical  wonders  of  Spiritism  are 
recorded,  such  as  levitation — the  swimming  of  the 
axe-head  (2  Kings  vi.);  transportation  from  place 
to  place,  as  in  the  case  of  Philip  in  the  Acts;  the 
shaking  of  rooms;  the  appearance  of  tongues  of 
fire,  and  many  others.  Communications  from  the 
spirit  world  are  (though  not  from  the  dead)  the  very 
essence  of  the  Bible.  In  short,  there  is  no  book  in 
the  whole  world  to  compare  with  the  Word  of  God 
in  making  known  the  powers  of  the  world  invisible, 


16  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

and  showing  its  profound  influence  on  the  whole 
destiny  of  man  and  in  every  stage  of  his  earthly 
career. 

Doubtless,  the  Bible  is  the  greatest  manual  on  true 
Spiritualism,  stamped  as  it  is  with  Divine  authority, 
that  exists;  and,  as  we  investigate  the  present 
position  of  Modern  Spiritism,  we  shall  find  that 
between  it  and  the  true  Bible-Spiritualism  a  great 
gulf  is  indeed  fixed. 

In  Favour  of  Spiritual  Research 

Let  us  clearly  understand  that,  so  far  from  this 
book  being  written  against  researches  into  the  spirit 
world,  it  protests  solely  and  entirely  against  the 
degradation  of  this  noble  science  by  the  Modern 
Spiritism  of  the  day.  So  far  from  denying  a 
future  existence  and  another  world,  it  takes  its 
stand  on  both  as  Divine  truths,  only  pointing  out 
how  transcendent  are  the  Bible  details  concerning 
both  when  compared  with  Spiritist  communications. 

I  shall  also  show  that  the  stand  the  Bible  takes 
against  communication  with  another  world,  so  far 
from  being  sweeping  and  general,  is  strictly  confined 
to  these  degrading  and  dangerous  practices  so  largely 
revived  in  Modern  Spiritism,  and  the  practice  of 
necromancy. 

All  this  must  be  always  borne,  in  mind  while  we 
carefully  consider  the  practices  and  doctrines  of 
Modern  Spiritism  from  the  utterances  of  its  most 
distinguished  leaders. 

After  a  general  survey  of  the  subject,  we  shall 
consider  first  of  all  its  claims  as  a  Science,  and  then 
as  a  Religion. 


CHAPTER  II 
THE  HISTORY  OF  SPIRITISM 

MODERN  SPIRITISM  is,  according  to  its  exponents, 
merely  a  new  development,  clothed  in  new  words 
of  a  cult  thousands  of  years  old;  one  might  have 
said,  with  equal  truth,  well-nigh  as  old  as  the 
human  race. 

In  the  Encyclopaedia  Britannica  Spiritism  is  defined 
as  "a  belief  that  the  spirit  world  manifests  itself  by 
producing  in  the  physical  world  effects  inexplicable 
by  the  known  laws  of  nature";  but  later,  in  the 
Spiritist  Magazine,  the  definition  is  further  developed 
as  follows.  Spiritism  is  defined  as  "a  belief  based 
on  facts  through  a  system  of  mediumship.  Its 
cardinal  truths  being  that  of  a  world  of  spirits;  and 
the  continuity  of  the  existence  of  the  individual  spirit 
through  the  momentary  eclipse  of  death."* 

*  To  this  we  may  add  the  following  from  "The  True  Light," 
by  G.  G.  Andre-,  F.G.S.,  A.M.I.C.E.  (1907):— "What  is  this 
spiritism,  and  what  is  this  theosophy,  in  which  the  movement  is 
said  to  have  its  origin?"  (xi.).  "All  who  call  themselves 
Christians  should  be  constrained  to  admit  the  lawfulness  of  its 
foremost  purpose,  for  the  persistence  of  life  beyond  death  was 
the  spiritual  lesson  of  Christ's  resurrection"  (p.  3).  "It  takes 
Christ's  teaching  as  a  whole;  and  if  it  be  objected  that  the 
Church  also  does  this,  the  reply  is,  'The  Church  had  also  the 
doctrine  of  a  vicarious  atonement'  "  (p. 12).  "If  for  conven- 
ience we  designate  the  high  ranks  (of  the  departed)  Angels,  and 
the  lower  as  Evil  Spirits,  let  us  be  careful  not  to  lose  sight  of  the 
fact  that  they  differ  only  as  elder  and  younger"  (p.  76).  "There 
is  no  room  in  the  Universe  for  an  essentially  evil  thing"  (p.  77). 
"We  must  reject  the  conception  of  fallen  creatures.  By  the 
Fall  we  understand  the  descent  of  spirit  into  matter"  (p.  162). 
"  The  '  New  Theology '  is  the  old  Wisdom  to  which  Christ  gave 


i8  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

Modern  Spiritism  Begins  in  1847 

Professor  Richet  and  J.  Arthur  Hill,  in  the 
"Physical  Phenomena  of  Spiritualism"  (a  well- 
known  text-book),  and  many  others  actually  date 
Modern  Spiritism  from  1847.  It  was  in  December 
of  that  year  that  mysterious  rappings  were  first 
heard  in  a  Methodist's  house  in  New  York  State,  in 
a  quiet  family  of  the  name  of  Fox,  which  contained 
two  young  girls  just  arrived  at  maidenhood. 

The  mysterious  rappings  all  over  the  house,  which 
caused  such  crowds  to  assemble,  lost  much  of  their 
supposed  spiritist  power  when  it  was  discovered  that 
these  two  girls  could  at  will,  without  apparent 
movement,  loudly  crack  their  knee  and  toe  joints; 
but  it  was  never  finally  settled  that  this  was  the  sole 
cause  of  the  rappings.  Recent  researches  by  Sir  Wm. 
Crookes,  Sir  Oliver  Lodge  and  others  have  shown 
that  certain  individuals  can  produce  distinct  and 
loud  raps  in  their  joints  at  will,  but  the  power  is  rare. 

Old  Spiritism 

This  caused  a  revival  of  old  Spiritist  practices  that 
can  be  traced  from  ancient  times.  It  was  common 
amongst  the  Essenes,  and  Delitsch  shows  table- 
turning  was  practised  in  Jewish  circles  in  the 
seventh  century.  Spiritism  was  known  in  Egypt 
in  the  fourth  century.  The  successor  to  the  Em- 
peror Theodosius  was  announced  by  table-rap- 
ping. All  over  the  Roman  and  Grecian  Empires, 

the  sanction  of  His  authority"  (p.  183).  "Spiritism  is  essen- 
tially Christian";  though,  on  page  151,  Andr6  teaches  re-incar- 
nation ! 

I  insert  this  note  to  show  that  Spiritism  may  be  fairly  de- 
scribed as  regards  its  doctrine  as  "Theosophy  and  water." 


ITS  HISTORY  19 

in  China,  most  pagan  countries,  amongst-  the  Red 
Indians,  and  the  sect  of  the  Gnostics,  Spiritism 
was  found;  and  history  records  how  universally  it 
was  practised  in  the  Middle  Ages,  and  the  severe 
laws  against  it. 

The  French  Revolution  is  said  to  have  brought  in 
an  era  of  materialism  that  largely  extinguished 
Spiritism  in  civilised  countries.  It  was  revived  by 
Professors  Mesmer  and  Swedenborg*  in  somewhat 
different  forms  with  great  power,  and  carried  on  later 
in  France  by  its  skilled  exponent,  Allan  Kardec,  a 
great  apostle  of  reincarnation,  which,  although 
believed  in  by  some  600  millions,  is  still  without 
any  proof. 

Spiritism  in  England 

It  was  little  known  in  England  until  1852,  when  it 
became  popular  in  the  familiar  phenomenon  of  table- 
turning.  It  was  the  amusement  of  nearly  every 
drawing-room.  During  the  Crimean  War  it  was  a 
great  resource  in  society  circles.  Simple,  however, 
though  this  is  in  itself,  and  apparently  little  more 
than  a  parlour  game,  it  leads  on  imperceptibly  by 
further  steps  to  manifestations  so  remarkable  that 
it  has  often  proved  the  beginning  of  an  obsession 
that  has  led  to  the  most  disastrous  physical  and 
mental  results.  To  their  great  credit,  so  far  from 
denying  or  concealing  this  danger,  the  leaders  of  the 
cult  are  full  of  warnings  of  the  risks  attending  prac- 
tices that  may  begin  with  simple  table-turning. 

Modern  Spiritism  aroused  very  widespread  interest 

*  Swedenborg  was  a  great  Spiritist,  and  was  supposed  to 
speak  with  the  mighty  dead  in  all  ages. 


20  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

when  the  Rev.  W.  Stainton  Moses,  B.  A.  Oxon., 
a  member  of  the  S.P.R.,*  a  man  of  undoubted  integ- 
rity and  the  highest  character,  a  college  master  at 
University  College,  London,  and  a  Mr.  D.  D.  Home, 
a  nephew  of  the  Earl  of  Home,  also  a  man  of  high 
character,  joined  the  ranks  of  the  new  science  as 
mediums. 

This  is  not  the  place  for  recounting  their  marvels; 
but  their  advent  and,  at  the  same  time,  the  wonderful 
talents  of  the  Rev.  Henry  Irving,  the  founder  of  the 
Latter  Day  Saints,  or  so-called  Holy  Apostolic 
Church,  with  all  the  wonders  enacted  in  his  services, 
combined  to  interest  all  society,  from  the  Throne 
downwards,  in  this  new  cult. 

Society  for  Psychical  Research 

Such  a  science,  claiming  such  unheard-of  powers, 
demanded  authoritative  investigation;  and  Sir 
Wm.  Barrett,  Mr.  Ed.  Gurney,  and  others  joined,  in 
1891,  in  founding  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research, 
of  which  Mr.  Arthur  Balfour,  Sir  Wm.  Crookes, 
Professor  Henry  Sidgwick,  and  other  most  distin- 
guished men  have  been  presidents.  Mr.  Gladstone, 
Bishop  Boyd  Carpenter,  Professor  Henri  Bergson 
were  also  active  members.  Its  business  was 
closely  to  investigate  all  alleged  phenomena  of 
the  borderland,  which  it  has  continued  to  do 
for  nearly  thirty  years  from  its  offices  in  Han- 
over Square.  So  far  as  I  am  aware,  however,  it  has 
made  no  definite  pronouncement  upon  Modern 
Spiritism,  for  such  is  not  its  object;  but  it  has 
established  as  facts  beyond  question,  the  existence  of 

*  Society  for  Psychical  Research. 


ITS  HISTORY  21 

some  unknown  human  powers,  which  will  foe  con- 
sidered later  on;  and  also  suggested  others,  not  yet 
proved. 

I  have  never  been  a  member  of  the  Psychical 
Research  Society,  but  my  solitary  visit  to  it  may  be 
worth  recording,  for  it  was  of  great,  though  painful, 
interest  to  myself.  The  reader  must  bear  with  the 
digression.  I  had  to  go  to  their  rooms  to  solve  some 
question  when  I  got  an  invitation  to  a  dinner  of  the 
Society.  I  found  I  was  placed  next  the  treasurer  of 
the  S.P.R.,  a  Mr.  H  P.  Smith,  whose  face  seemed 
familiar. 

H.  Pearsall-Smith 

I  must  mention  here  that,  several  years  before  an 
American  gentleman,  with  some  very  remarkable 
religious  views,  came  over  to  England  on  business. 
I  was  present,  with  a  barrister  cousin  of  mine,  at 
the  first  Bible-reading  he  held  in  this  country  in  the 
Mayor's  parlour  in  Manchester. 

The  subject  was  "The  Walls  of  Jericho,"  and  we 
were  told,  with  great  spiritual  power,  that,  if  we  acted 
in  simple  faith  on  God's  word,  we  should  see  the  same 
wonders  that  Joshua  saw. 

This  meeting  changed  for  the  better  my  cousin's 
whole  course  of  life,  and  greatly  affected  my  views. 
At  Brighton  and  elsewhere  Mr.  Henry  Pearsall-Smith 's 
discourses  profoundly  influenced  the  religious  world, 
and,  notably,  such  men  as  the  late  Evan  Hopkins, 
Prebendary  Webb-Peploe,  and  some  of  our  Bishops; 
and  eventually  led  to  the  foundation  of  the  now  well- 
known  Conventions  (attended  by  thousands)  at 
Keswick.  Mr.  Smith  was,  however,  greatly  over- 


22 

strained  later  in  life,  and  was  at  that  time,  so  far  as 
I  knew,  in  an  asylum. 

The  "H.  P.,"  however,  on  the  treasurer's  card 
next  to  me  at  the  dinner  attracted  my  attention, 
and  I  ventured  to  ask  Mr.  Smith  if  he  had  ever 
heard  of  the  well-known  Henry  Pearsall-Smith,  who 
had  moved  in  such  a  very  different  circle. 

As  Treasurer  of  the  S.P.R. 

"Why,  yes,"  he  said;  '-'I  am  the  man."  He  had 
evidently  recovered,  and  taken  the,  for  him,  extra- 
ordinary position  of  an  official  in  the  S.P.R. 

"But  I  was  present,"  I  said,  greatly  perplexed, 
"at  your  first  meeting  in  Manchester  when  your 
spiritual  power  began  to  be  felt." 

"Yes,"  he  said,  "I  remember  it  well;  but  have 
always  been  puzzled  myself  to  know  what  the  spiritual 
power  really  was." 

"Well,"  I  replied,  "to  my  mind  it  seems  that  you 
inspired  men  to  trust  God  as  they  had  never  trusted 
Him  before." 

"I  suppose  that  was  it,"  he  answered,  "though 
it  was  always  a  mystery  to  me;  for  I  came  over 
solely  on  business,  but  soon  found  myself  at  the  head 
of  a  great  religious  movement." 

"That  is  true,"  I  said,  "but  you  are  now  the 
treasurer  of  the  S.P.R." 

"That's  all  right,"  he.  rejoined;  "but  I  should 
like  to  say  a  word  of  warning  about  Spiritism.  My 
brother  in  America  is  a  leading  Spiritist,  and  he  tells 
me  that  its  study  seems  everywhere  to  lower  the 
moral  character,  and  to  unhinge  the  mental  balance 
in  a  very  remarkable  way." 


ITS  HISTORY  23 

The  First  Warnings 

I  believe  Mr.  Smith  went  so  far  as  to  say  that  his 
brother  did  not  know  one  leading  Spiritist  in  America 
who  was  not  affected  in  some  such  way,  more  or  less. 

At  any  rate,  it  was  from  the  lips  of  H.  P. -Smith, 
now  quite  recovered,  at  this  dinner  of  the  S.P.R., 
that  I  received  my  first  grave  caution  against 
Modern  Spiritism.  Maeterlinck  points  out  that 
Spiritism  has  always  been  opposed  by  Science  and 
Religion — by  the  former  because  its  sphere  is  the 
physical;  by  the  latter  because  it  is  forbidden. 
Augury  or  divination  wearies  the  intellect,  stunts 
enterprise,  and  distorts  the  conscience.  As  Isaiah 
says:  "Thy  spells  and  enchantments  with  which 
thou  hast  wearied  thyself  have  led  thee  astray." 

Mrs.  Piper,  in  America,  soon  became  the  leading 
medium  after  Moses  and  Home  in  England;  though, 
in  October,  1891,  she  denied  she  had  ever  had  any 
communications  with  the  departed! 

There  is  now  a  British  National  Association  of 
Spirits  (established  1873),  and  Mr.  Stead  carried 
on  for  a  few  years  a  Spiritist  Bureau  for  Necro- 
mancy, or  Intercourse  with  Departed  Spirits,  with 
terrible  results  to  some.  (See  close  of  next  chapter.) 

Spirits  are  now  numbered,  -it  is  said,  by  millions. 
In  1877  Hepworth  Dixon  declared  that  one-tenth 
in  New  England  States  were  touched  with  Spiritism. 
In  1900,  in  the  States,  twenty-five  working  Spiritist 
societies  existed,  over  10,000  mediums  were  at 
work,  and  eighty-two  wealthy  churches,  with  Sunday 
Schools,  were  flourishing.  Spiritist  schools  were 
common,  and  Spiritist  ordinations  of  ministers 
recognised. 


24  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

Sir  Oliver  J.  Lodge 

During  the  war,  as  a  well-known  scientific  writer 
points  out,  there  was  a  felt  need  in  Modern  Spiritist 
circles  of  some  commanding  authority,  some  Luke 
or  Paul,  to  appear  in  England  to^support  the  cult. 
He  must  be  a  scientist  to  suit  the  temper  of  the  time. 
Sir  Wm.  Crookes  was  over  eighty,  and  Sir  Wm. 
Barrett  not  an  active  or  popular  teacher. 

The  want  was  supplied  by  the  sudden  arrival  in 
the  front  rank  of  Spiritists  of  Sir  Oliver  Lodge.  The 
remarkable  details  from  America  of  his  opportune 
conversion  afford  food  for  thought. 

It  is  pointed  out  by  some  that  Spiritism  is.  to-day 
in  the  stage  that  storms,  electricity,  and  epidemics 
were  only  a  century  ago.  We  know  their  laws  now, 
and  no  longer  ascribe  their  phenomena  immediately 
to  any  supernatural  agency. 

Already  many  of  the  phenomena  of  Spiritism 
have  been  satisfactorily  discounted  by  science;  and 
it  seems  not  improbable  that  in  another  hundred 
years  there  may  be  few  left  that  are  still  deemed 
supernatural. 

Not  only  so,  but,  as  Professor  Richet  well  points 
out,  it  is  a  more  difficult  task  in  the  present  state  of 
our  knowledge  to  form  a  sane  estimate  of  Modern 
Spiritism  than  to  learn  Arabic.  Few  of  my  readers 
have  done  the  latter,  and  none  should  suppose  that 
this  book  alone  will  enable  them  to  do  the  former. 

The  Latest  Book  on  Spiritism 

I  will  bring  these  few  notes  up  to  date  by  touching 
on  the  latest  book  on  Spiritism  by  a  journalist, 
a  Mr.  Sydney  Moseley,  whom  Sir  A.  Conan  Doyle,  in 


ITS  HISTORY  25 

a  preface  to  his  book,  vouches  for  as  "a  very  sane 
observer,  whose  conclusions  deserve  the  most  earnest 
attention." 

My  Friend  Davies 

This  "very  sane  observer"  begins  by  describing 
life  after  death  as  a  new  doctrine,  apparently  dis- 
covered by  Spiritism,  totally  ignoring  that  it  has 
been  a  foundation  truth  of  Christianity  for  well-nigh 
2,000  years,  and  is  only  unknown  to  unbelievers. 
Later  he  distinctly  hears  rapping  on  the  window  of 
his  railway  carriage,  and  believes  it  to  be  "spirits," 
until  his  friend  and  adviser,  a  Mr.  Davies,  points  out 
it  is  a  man  knocking  his  pipe  in  the  next  compart- 
ment! He  hears  an  Indian  chief  talking  in  negro 
dialect,  and  several  other  wonders.  I  should  not 
record  these  puerilities  did  not  Sir  A.  Conan  Doyle 
tell  us  they  proceed  from  "a  very  sane  observer." 

His  friend  Davies  at  first  would  have  nothing  to 
do  with  Spiritism,  for  he  found  it  was  condemned  by 
the  Bible  (a  rare  but  very  good  reason),  until  he  was 
shown  St.  Luke  xxiv.  25:  "0  fools  and  slow  of 
heart  to  believe  all  that  the  prophets  have  spoken." 
Will  it  be  credited  that  he  interpreted  this  to  mean 
that  they  were  fools  because  they  believed  the  Old 
Testament  prophets,  instead  of  (as  our  Lord  said) 
being  fools  not  to  believe  them — a  meaning  the  con- 
text plainly  shows.  This  absurdity  is  gravely  quoted 
by  our  "very  sane  observer"  with  evident  approval. 

I  do  not  say  that  Mr.  Sydney  Moseley  is  a  worthy 
representative  of  Spiritism;  and  I  fear  the  book 
shows  that  Sir  A.  Conan  Doyle,  though  a  distin- 
guished novelist,  is  not  a  very  safe  judge  of  character. 


26  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

Like  many  other  "cults,"  Spiritism  suffers  from  its 
friends. 

American  Origin 

What  impresses  me  in  going  through  the  accu- 
mulated mass  of  literature  on  the  subject  is  the 
everlasting  recurrence  of  the  same  dozen  names  of 
leading  Spiritists  and  mediums,  who  seem  to  con- 
stitute all  the  authorities  on  Modern  Spiritism.  In 
common  with  other  new  religions,  its  rise  seems 
to  be,  in  modern  times,  from  the  States,  where  it 
flourishes  much  better  than  in  the  more  frigid  and 
exhausted  soil  of  Europe. 

It  now  remains  for  me  to  chronicle  a  few  of  the 
best-authenticated  and  most  remarkable  phenomena 
in  Modern  Spiritism  and  some  other  allied  conditions, 
and  attempt  some  explanation  of  these  so  far  as  is 
possible  in  the  present  state  of  our  knowledge. 
Those  who  look  for  final  and  absolute  pronounce- 
ments must  remember  that  the  whole  subject  is  so 
new  and  strange  to  most  of  us  that  such  are  neither 
yet  possible  nor  desirable.  We  shall  consider 
Spiritism  first  of  all  rather  on  its  physical  side  as  a 
Science;  and  then  we  shall  take  up  the  subject  on 
its  psychical  and  moral  side  as  a  Religion:  and  here 
it  may  be  both  possible  and  desirable  to  come  to  a 
reasonable  judgment. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE   PHENOMENA   OF   MODERN    SPIRITISM 
A  Modern  Seance 

THOSE  who  have  not  attended  a  seance  of 
Spiritists,  with  a  good  medium,  can  have  but  a  faint 
concept  of  its  extraordinary  character.  The  remark- 
able combination  of  the  serious  with  the  comic,  the 
religious  with  the  profane  or  worse,  the  mysterious 
with  the  commonplace,  the  true  with  the  false; 
together  with  the  darkened  room,  the  unexpected  and 
certainly  weird  appearances,  sounds,  lights,  and  often 
smells,  the  tight  holding  of  hands  for  hours  (no 
gloves),  the  strained  attention,  the  earnest  expecta- 
tion of  one  knows  not  what,  must  all  be  experienced 
to  be  realised.  To  crown  the  performance  is  the 
prayer,  which  always,  to  me,  borders  on  the  blas- 
phemous, followed  by  the  appalling  attempts  at 
singing  American  revival  hymns  by  aged  scientists 
and  others,  which  do  more  than  border  on  the 
ludicrous. 

Seances  indeed,  between  1860  and  1870,  were 
mostly  of  the  nature  of  revival  meetings:  partly 
religious,  partly  emotional,  and  very  sensational. 
When  T.  A.  Trollope,  the  novelist,  was  at  a  s6ance 


28  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

with  D.  D.  Home  we  are  told  that  "tears  of  holy 
joy  coursed  down  his  manly  cheeks." 

The  prayer  is,  of  course,  defended  as  necessary, 
because  it  is  supposed  to  keep  out  evil  spirits.  It 
may  be  offered  by  the  medium,  or  rather  by  some 
spirit  supposed  to  be  controlling  (i.e.,  using)  her  at 
the  time.  There  is  almost  sure  to  be,  during  a 
prolonged  stance,  all  sorts  of  meaningless  freaks, 
toys,  flowers,  etc.,  flying  in  the  air,  and  musical 
instruments  heard  about  the  room. 

Spirit-Controls 

Professor  Jacks,  while  he  was  President  of  the 
Society  for  Psychical  Research,  attended  three 
seances  with  a  special  medium.  He  had  first  to  dis- 
miss any  hypothesis  of  fraud,  which  is  so  common 
amongst  professional  mediums;  but  this  was  not 
enough.  If  he  wished  to  see  true  phenomena  he  found 
he  must  assume  the  reality  of  the  spirit-control  of  the 
medium  before  he  could  get  any  communications, 
which  was  very  unsatisfactory  to  him,  for  the  control 
professed  to  be  the  spirit  of  some  departed  person. 
Having  accepted  this,  one  had  to  take  the  truth  of 
the  whole  of  what  followed  for  granted!  The 
"controls"  are  generally  remote  people,  such  as  a 
French  doctor  of  200  years  ago,  an  Oriental  girl, 
a  North  American  Indian,  or  a  priest  of  the  Pharaohs. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  "spirit"  is  some  one  known 
to  the  audience.  Dr.  Jacks  found  the  "stage  patter" 
and  the  phraseology  of  disguised  theosophy  (on 
which  Modern  Spiritism  is  largely  based)  very 
annoying.  He  could  not  get  into  communication 
with  any  of  his  relations;  but  suddenly  the  "spirit" 


PHENOMENA  OF  MODERN  SPIRITISM  29 

of  the  last  person  in  the  world  he  expected  spoke  by 
the  "control"  (through  the  medium)  in  a  strong 
man's  voice. 

Physical  and  Psychic  Phenomena 

All  phenomena  at  stances  may  be  broadly  classed 
as  two — physical  and  psychical.  The  former  includes 
all  movements,  sounds  and  materialisations;  the 
latter,  spirit-writing  and  all  communications  "from 
the  dead"  by  rappings,  etc. 

However  frivolous  and  silly  most  stances  may  be, 
it  is  worth  noting  that,  when  held  for  a  definite 
purpose,  to  prove  some  point  in  Modern  Spiritism, 
and  with  adeg£sv  all  this  disappears,  and  they 
become  perfectly  orderly  and  serious.  There  appears 
to  be  a  method  in  the  madness. 

Perhaps  the  most  extraordinary  part  is  the 
obsession  of  the  audience,  of  which  I  shall  say 
more  in  another  chapter.  Although  all  witness  the 
same  phenomena,  their  accounts  of  these  are  as 
various  and  contradictory  as  if  they  had  been  at 
different  seances. 

It  will  be  understood  throughout  that  "pheno- 
menal" is  practically  equivalent  to  "miraculous." 

Mediums 

The  next  points  to  consider  are  the  mediums — 
male  or  female;  generally  the  latter.  These  I 
believe  to  be  people  naturally,  or  by  practice, 
capable  of  throwing  themselves  into  what  is  called  a 
trance,  that  is,  a  state  of  more  or  less  complete 
unconsciousness,  similar  to  that  formerly  induced  in 
ordinary  hypnosis,  which  is  effected  by  another. 


30 

This  is  by  no  means  an  easy  process.  The  Rev. 
W.  Wynn  says  of  a  medium  that  it  took  him 
nearly  ten  minutes  to  pass  under  control  (or,  as  I 
believe,  into  a  hypnotic  condition),  "after  many 
strange  bodily  contortions  which  are  not  pleasant 
to  witness,  but  are  quite  natural  if  we  are  to  assume 
that  a  discarnate  spirit  controls  his  body."  Mediums 
are,  therefore,  practised  in  the  art  of  auto-hypnosis, 
the  effect  of  which  appears  to  be  to  throw  the  con- 
scious mind  into  abeyance,  and  to  bring  into  activity 
the  unconscious  mind  (see  Chapter  I.),  called  by 
Myers  "subliminal,"  by  others  "sub-conscious." 
Now  it  is  an  established  fact  that  in  the  state  of 
hypnosis  a  person  so  conditioned  can  remember 
things  entirely  forgotten  by  his  consciousness,  can 
unconsciously  read  the  minds  (conscious  or  uncon- 
scious) of  others  by  telepathy,  and  can  do  many 
apparent  marvels,  the  source  of  which  he  him- 
self, in  this  state,  is  unconscious  of.  It  is  ob-, 
vious,  to  go  no  further,  how  much  a  stance  depends 
on  the  medium's  power  to  throw  herself  absolutely 
into  this  condition,  in  which  she  can  speak  with  cer- 
tainty of  things  quite  unknown  to  herself,  and  thus 
apparently  act  as  a  "medium"  between  the  audience 
and  some  extra-human  intelligence.  In  this  case, 
of  course,  the  real  solution  is  the  state  in  which  the 
"medium"  is,  which  enables  all  the  marvellous 
information  to  come  unconsciously  through  her  by 
telepathy*  and  allied  processes,  from  the  minds 

*  Telepathy,  or  thought-transference,  at  a  distance  and  with- 
out words  has  become  a  scientific  fact  through  the  arduous 
labours  of  the  Psychical  Research  Society,  known  generally 
as  the  S.P.R. 


PHENOMENA  OF  MODERN  SPIRITISM  3! 

(conscious  or  unconscious)  of  the  inquirers.  This 
explanation,  which  may  appear  to  some  to  be  com- 
plicated and  far-fetched,  is  really  simple  and  direct, 
and  is  based  on  established  facts.  But  though  it 
accounts  for  most  of  the  psychical  phenomena  that 
are  not  fraudulent,  it  does  not  apparently,  as  we 
shall  see,  account  for  all.  It  certainly  shows,  how- 
ever, that  the  term  "medium"  is  objectionable  since 
the  discovery  of  telepathy;  for  the  person  acting 
is  not  generally  a  "medium"  between  another 
intelligence  and  our  own;  seeing  that  all  generally 
comes,  through  the  power  of  hypnosis  and  telepathy, 
from  herself  and  her  audience.  To  call  her*  a 
"medium"  begs  the  whole  question. 

The  Question  of  Fraud 

These  beings  of  such  exceptional  powers  mostly 
spend  their  lives  in  this  abnormal  condition  at  a 
great  expense'  of  vitality,  for  the  state  of  trance  is 
most  exhausting  and  unnatural.  Moreover,  it  is 
uncertain,  and  cannot  be  always  induced.  It  is 
obvious,  therefore,  that  where  money  depends  on 
the  seance,  and  when  fraud  is  so  much  more  certain 
to  produce  results  and  easy  to  practice,  why  it  is  so 
often  resorted  to.  Indeed,  in  America  and  even 
here,  fraud  is  so  general  that  many,  who  otherwise 
would  investigate  the  phenomena,  recoil  in  disgust 
from  the  whole  subject,  and  declare  Spiritism  to 
be  nothing  but  fraud,  which  is  not  true.f  The 

*  I  say  "her"  throughout  instead  of  "him,"  owing  to  the 
preponderance  of  women  mediums. 

t  It  is  only  fair,  in  this  connection,  to  distinguish  between 
professional  mediums,  who  work  for  money,  and  to  whom  these 
remarks  specially  apply,  and  private  mediums,  who  do  not  take 
money  or  give  public  stances,  but  who  still  may,  at  times,  deceive. 


32  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

French  Spiritist  writer,  C.  Flammarion,  greatly 
regrets  "that  we  cannot  trust  the  loyalty  of 
mediums.  They  nearly  all  cheat."  While  Mrs. 
Sidgwick  says:  "The  chief  scandal  of  Spiritism  is 
the  encouragement  it  gives  to  the  immoral  trade  -of 
mediumship." 

The  powers  of  a  medium  are  occasionally  lifelong, 
but  generally,  curious  to  say,  only  for  a  term.  The 
Rev.  Stainton  Moses  had  marvellous  power  from 
thirty-three  to  forty-four,  when  it  suddenly  departed, 
though  he  lived  for  nine  years  afterwards. 

Notable   Mediums 

Eusapia  Palladino,  the  Italian  medium,  gradually 
lost  her  powers;  while  those  of  Mrs.  Piper,  the 
American  medium,  were  suddenly  wrecked. 

It  may  be  said  here  that  the  belief  that  psychical 
communications,  other  than  those  of  telepathic  origin, 
already  described  are  possible,  mainly  rests  on 
the  work  of  one  medium,  Mrs.  Piper,  and  that 
belief  in  physical  manifestations  (levitation,  sounds, 
lights,  etc.)  being  real,  and  not  fraudulent,  rests  on 
the  work  of  Eusapia  Palladino,  of  Naples.  Both  of 
these,  however,  as  pointed  out  by  Mr.  Frank  Podmore 
("The  Newer  Spiritism,"  p.  33),  have  been  exposed 
in  fraudulent  practices.* 

Spiritist  Phenomena 

We  now  turn  to  Spiritist  phenomena;  and  here,  it 
is  obvious,  I  must  be  very  brief,  and  do  little  more 

*  On  the  other  hand,  the  bulk  of  their  work  under  rigid  test 
conditions  has  been  proved,  on  undoubted  scientific  authority, 
to  be  genuine. 


PHENOMENA  OF  MODERN  SPIRITISM  33 

than  outline  some  of  the  leading  wonders,  as  the 
subject  is  so  vast.  I  will  speak  first  of  those  pheno- 
mena we  may  term  physical,  nearly  always,  be  it 
remembered,  induced  by  the  presence  of  a  recognised 
medium  (not  necessarily,  however,  in  a  trance)  in  the 
room.  There  are  rare  instances  where  no  known 
medium  has  been  present.  I  say  "known"  medium, 
because  it  has  afterwards  been  found  that  a  person 
possessing  such  powers,  which  were  at  the  time 
unknown  to  herself,  was  in  the  room. 

Every  sort  of  furniture  has  moved  with  and  with- 
out contact,  and  even  against  efforts  to  prevent  it, 
apparently  by  some  inherent  power.  In  fact 
inanimate  objects  seem  for  the  time  to  be  endowed 
with  some  sort  of  intelligence  and  purpose. 

These  absolutely  independent  movements  of  fur- 
niture are  vouched  for  as  established  facts  by  Sir 
Wm.  Crookes,  one  of  the  world's  first  scientists, 
and  a  man  of  keen  observation,  cautious  disposition, 
and  absolutely  reliable  accuracy. 

A  table  or  chair  begins  to  move  towards  the 
skilled  observer,  who  pushes  it  back  five  or  six 
times,  when  it  slowly  returns  each  time.  This 
is  in  daylight,  and  there  is  no  string  or  cord 
attached. 

Floating  Furniture 

Sir  Wm.  Barrett  reports  a  case  that  convinced 
him  of  some  unknown  force.  Loud  raps  (like 
electric  discharges)  came  from  a  table,  four  feet 
square,  when  no  one  touched  it.  Then,  in  obedience 
to  orders,  it  first  lifted  its  two  front  legs,  then  its 
two  back  ones,  ten  inches  off  the  ground,  and  then 


34  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

it  floated  across  the  room.  This  was  in  Sir  Wm. 
Barrett's  own  house  in  Dublin.  Then  the  table 
rapped  out  messages,  which,  however,  were  valueless 
and  mere  platitudes.  Miss  L.,  in  whose  presence 
(as  the  medium)  these  wonders  occurred,  one  may 
mention,  is  a  Methodist. 

Sir  William  conducted  further  experiments  with 
Dr.  Crawford  (Lecturer  in  Mechanical  Engineering 
at  Belfast  College),  and  the  latter  found  that,  as  the 
table  rose  in  the  air,  and  decreased  in  weight,  so  the 
medium  increased  by  many  pounds.*  At  one  seance 
the  table  struck  the  floor  suddenly  a  tremendous 
bang,  then  rose  eighteen  inches  and  remained  level 
in  the  air.  Dr.  Crawford  tried  to  push  it  down, 
but  could  not  do  so.  He  then  climbed  up  and  sat 
on  the  table  as  it  floated.  All  this  was  in  his  own 
house,  with  his  own  family,  and  no  money  was  paid 
to  any  one. 

The  Spirit  in  the  Wood 

Dr.  Marcel  Violett  says  the  raps  are  heard  in  the 
table  itself.  He  says  an  interior  movement  takes 
place  in  the  wood  of  the  table,  and  he  has  had  a 
table,  fractured  by  this  force,  repaired  more  than 
once.  Words  and  phrases  were  rapped  out  (on  an 
alphabetical  system)  which  were  of  no  literary, 
scientific,  or  philosophic  value. 

Sometimes,  he  says,  if  we  think  we  know  the  word 
that  is  being  spelt,  and  write  it  down  to  save  time, 
the  table  objects,  and  becomes  agitated  (shakes)  all 
over.  (Just  as  a  stammerer  does  when  we  suggest 

*  In  materialisation,  on  the  other  hand,  Sir  Wm.  Crookes  has 
found  her  decrease  as  much  as  23  Ibs. 


PHENOMENA  OF  MODERN  SPIRITISM   35 

to  him  what  he  is  trying  to  say.)  These  seances  were 
mostly  conducted  in  darkness. 

Professor  Maeterlinck,  one  summer,  in  an  old  abbey, 
was  entertaining  some  guests,  who  were  making  a 
small  table  spin  on  its  feet  by  placing  their  hands  on 
it.  He  was  smoking  in  another  part  of  the  room. 
Suddenly  the  table  rapped  out  that  it  held  the  spirit 
of  a  monk  who  was  buried  in  the  east  gallery  of  the 
cloisters  in  1693.  The  whole  party  then  got  up  and 
went  there,  and  discovered  a  very  old  tombstone 
inscribed  A. D.  1693.  Maeterlinck  adds :  "Myguests 
only  arrived  that  night  on  their  first  visit  to  the 
abbey,  and  had  seen  nothing,  and  I  believed  myself 
wholly  ignorant  of  the  tombstone."* 

Regarding  levitation,  Professor  Flammarion,  of 
Paris,  says:  "The  phenomenon  of  levitation  is,  to 
me,  absolutely  proved,  though  it  cannot  be 
explained."  In  1906,  at  the  Psychological  Institute, 
in  Paris,  a  heavy  table  was  lifted  twenty  inches  from 
the  ground  by  two  people  placing  their  hands 
•upon  it. 

Professor  Lombroso  also  testifies  to  furniture 
floating.  But  there  are  greater  marvels  yet. 

Floating  Men 

Sir  Wm.  Crookes  has  seen  Mr,  Douglas  D.  Home,  a 
well-known  medium,  and  supposed  nephew  of  the 
Earl  of  Home,  sitting  in  the  air  with  nothing  under 
him. 

In  December,  1868,  at  5,  Buckingham  Gate,  in  the 

*  Observe  Maeterlinck  was  not  sure;  the  medium  present  could 
have  given  the  information  from  the  professor's  unconscious 
mind  by  telepathy  if  the  latter  had  ever  heard  of  the  monk. 

3—2 


36  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

presence  of  Lord  Crawford,  the  Earl  of  Dunraven, 
and  Captain  Wynn,  D.  D.  Home  was  seen  floating 
round  the  room  near  the  ceiling,  carrying  an  arm- 
chair with  him. 

On  December  i6th  the  same  people  saw  Home 
float,  out  of  the  window,  eighty-five  feet  above  the 
ground,  andtravel  7^  feet  to  the  next  window,  and 
there  glide  in  feet  foremost,  and  then  sit  down. 
This  is  perhaps  the  greatest  physical  marvel  known 
in  Spiritism.  For  the  suggested  explanation  of  this, 
and  all  other  wonders,  I  must  ask  my  readers  to 
wait  in  patience  till  they  reach  Chapter  V. 

Materialisation 

Materialisation  seems  to  me,  if  possible,  a  still 
greater  wonder,  inasmuch  as  it  apparently  involves 
the  production,  from  some  unknown  source,  of  a 
living  being. 

(I  may  say  at  once  that  most  of  these  move- 
ments and  physical  appearances  are  delusions  or 
frauds,  as  I  shall  show  presently.) 

Talking  to  Mr.  Robert  King,  the  well-known 
occultist,  the  other  day,  he  told  me  that  there 
were  some  six  mediums  in  these  isles  who  had 
the  power  to  materialise  spirits;  that  all  were 
drunkards,  and  would  deceive  you  by  fraud  if  they 
could. 

The  three  cases  on  which  apparently  genuine 
materialisation  really  rests  are  Sir  Wm.  Crookes' 
"Katie  King,"  Professor  Richet's  "Arab"  and  Dr. 
Morselli's  mother — Eusapia  being  the  medium  here. 
E,usapia  is  a  Neapolitan  peasant  woman,  publicly 
convicted  of  fraud  on  several  occasions. 


PHENOMENA  OF  MODERN  SPIRITISM  37 

"Katie  King" 

With  Sir  Wm.  Crookes,  Miss  Cook  was  the  medium, 
and  for  three  years  she  materialised,  in  Sir  Wm. 
Crookes'  house,  at  intervals  a, being,  "Katie  King," 
whom  Crookes  closely  examined.  She  spoke  to 
him  and  his  scientific  guests,  and  walked  about  with 
them;  then  suddenly  disappeared.  Crookes,  with  six 
or  seven  other  eminent  scientists,  saw  "Katie  King" 
and  the  medium  side  by  side,  and  then,  under  three 
gas-jets,  watched  "Katie  King"  slowly  disappear. 
She  was  photographed,  and  Crookes  counted  her 
heart,  which  beat  at  seventy-five,  when  the  medium's 
was  ninety.  She  had  ordinary  flesh  and  bones,  and 
he  was  convinced  that  her  body  (at  any  rate)  was 
not  the  medium's.*  When  she  finally  left  she  went 
with  Sir  William  to  the  cabinet,  and  bent  over  the 
medium  and  said:  "Wake  up,  Florrie,  I  must  leave 
you  now."  Miss  Cook  then  woke  up,  and  begged  her 
to  stay  a  little  longer.  "No,  dear,  I  can't.  My 
work  is  done.  God  bless  you."  Crookes  then  helped 
Miss  Cook  to  rise,  and,  when  he  turned,  "Katie 
King  "  was  gone.  Other  materialisations  seem  more 
or  less  open  to  doubt.  I  must  point  out  here  that  no 
amount  of  materialisation,  or  of  movement,  or 
levitation,  however  wonderful,  true,  and  inexplicable, 
constitute,  either  separately  or  collectively,  any 
evidence  whatever  of  a  spirit  world  or  of  life  after  death. 
Any  evidence  of  this  is  wholly  psychical,  and  conies 
by  raps  which  spell  the  words,  or  by  writing,  more 
or  less  automatic.  Both  of  these  means  are 
very  easily  fraudulently  produced;  but  there  seems 

*  He  seems  in  some  doubt  about  the  spirit. 


38  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

to  be  sufficient  evidence  that  in  many  cases  they  are 
genuine  productions  by  some  unknown  superhuman 
power. 

Other  Physical  Phenomena 

There  are  various  other  physical  phenomena  of 
rare  occurrence.  Genuine  spirit  photographs  seem 
possible,  though  it  is  almost  impossible  to  prove 
they  are  such,  as  they  are  so  easily  imitated.  Col.  de 
Roches,  in  1894,  and  Dr.  Barlemont  obtained  the 
simultaneous  photo  of  the  body  of  a  medium  and  of 
her  separated  "astral  body." 

The  Rev.  W.  Stainton  Moses  (already  quoted), 
an  Oxford  M.A.  of  the  highest  character  and  a  most 
credible  witness,  says  at  another  seance:  "Scent 
kept  oozing  out  of  the  medium's  head.  The  more  it 
was  wiped  away,  the  more  it  poured  forth.  Musical 
sounds  were  also  heard  all  around." 

A  lengthening  of  the  body  is  occasionally  seen; 
D.  D.  Home  elongated  himself  eleven  inches!  He 
also  played  before  Sir  Wm.  Crookes  on  a  harmonium 
some  distance  away,  which  was  enclosed  and  locked 
in  a  metal  case. 

Crookes  at  another  time  put  his  finger  on  The 
Times,  arid  said,  "Write  the  word  under  my  finger." 
Home  immediately  wrote  "however,"  which  was 
the  word,  which  Crookes  did  not  know,  thus  excluding 
telepathy. 

Crookes  has  seen,  in  his  own  dining-room,  an 
accordion  playing  while  held  firmly  in  his  own  hands. 
Also  a  pendulum  move  in  a  glass  case. 

The  knotting  of  a  rope  with  fixed  and  sealed  ends 
in  full  daylight  was  performed,  in  December,  1877, 


PHENOMENA  OF  MODERN  SPIRITISM    39 

in  the  presence  of  Professors  Zollner,  Weber,  Fechner 
and  Schreibner,  by  a  well-known  medium;  nor  is 
this  case  unique.* 

Conan  Doyle  at  Glasgow 

The  other  day,  in  an  upper  room  in  Glasgow,  Sir 
A.  Conan  Doyle  and  fifteen  others  heard  the  sound 
of  a  rushing  wind,  and  they  all  saw  tongues  of  fire 
descend  on  each  other's  heads.  This  is  seriously 
recorded  for  our  instruction! 

I  will  not  spend  time  on  all  the  silly  and  freakish 
scenes  at  seances,  where  the  mediums  or  the  spirits 
seem  to  try  to  fool  the  audience  in  every  way,  but 
may  just  record  that  a  well-known  doctor  found 
one  day  the  bedroom  where  his  three  sons  slept 
turned  upside  down.  Four  people  watched  the 
mattress  being  pulled  off  the  bed  by  invisible  hands, 
and  the  chairs  being  turned  upside  down. 

Then  his  father  suddenly  appeared  to  his  house- 
maid in  a  blaze  of  glorious  light.  The  maid  after- 
wards turned  out  to  be  a  medium,  and  many  seances 
were  held. 

All  attempts  to  prove  fraud  or  trickery  entirely 
failed.  He  proceeds  to  say,  "I  and  Jane"  (the 
housemaid)  "resolved  to  have  nothing  more  to  do 
with  spirits,  but  the  knocks  kept  coming,  so  we 
held  one  more  seance,  Jane,  my  wife,  and  I.  Jane 
became  unconscious,  and  some  spirit  began  talking, 
through  her,  about  some  intricate  business  I  was 
interested  in,  in  German-English,  and  said  he  had 
been  trying  to  speak  to  me  for  thirteen  years.  Our 

*  This  and  other  performances  are  more  like  conjuring  tricks 
than  Spiritist  phenomena. 


40 

stances  seemed  crowded  with  spirits  in  a  dense 
throng  all  round  the  medium,  and  made  all  kinds  of 
interruptions."  The  doctor  was  an  evangelical 
Christian  man,  and  an  enemy  to  Spiritism. 

Do  not  Throw  the  Book  away. 

If  the  reader  has  got  thus  far,  I  beg  of  him  not  to 
throw  away  the  book  at  this  juncture  and  declare 
he  will  not  read  another  word  of  such  stuff,  for,  unless 
he  is  prepared  to  wade  through  much  of  a  similar 
character,  he  can  never  know  much  about  Spiritism. 
I  can  assure  him  the  "stuff"  has  been  carefully 
selected  from  hundreds  of  the  best  cases  in  Spiritism, 
and  consists  solely  of  well-authenticated  facts,  certi- 
fied to  by  witnesses^  as  credible  and  worthy  of  belief 
as  the  reader  himself;  and  here  may  I  beg  him  not  to 
deny  the  truth  of  what  he  cannot  understand;  for, 
after  all,  the  human  intellect  does  not  comprehend 
all  things.  Moreover,  will  he  bear  in  mind  that,  in 
endeavouring  to  give  a  fair  presentment  of  Modern 
Spiritism,  it  is  absolutely  essential  the  reader  should 
know  its  real  powers,  however  contrary  such  may 
appear  to  be  to  his  reason  ?  Has  he  grasped  the  fact 
that  Sir  Wm.  Crookes,  with  another  distinguished 
scientist,  went  into  the  subject  absolutely  determined 
to  unmask  the  "rubbishing  imposture";  and  both 
became  firm  believers  in  the  facts  I  have  detailed, 
although,  .1  am  thankful  to  say,  not  in  the  religion 
or  dogmas  of  Spiritism,  to  which  I  shall  allude  later 
:on. 

More  Marvels 

If  the  reader  is  reassured,  and  his  patience  will 
stand  a  little  more,  I  will  proceed.  Professor 


PHENOMENA  OF  MODERN  SPIRITISM     41 

Alexander  had  two  little  girls  with  some  of  the 
powers  of  mediums.  They  saw  a  spirit  form,  which 
was  also  seen  by  a  dog,  who  barked  at  it,  and  by  a 
baby,  who  cried  out,  "Man,  man!"  and  pointed 
at  it. 

In  General  Boldero's  house  at  Cupar,  with  D.  D. 
Home  in  the  room,  a  bright  light  was  seen,  the 
table  moved  off  to  the  piano,  on  which  notes  were 
struck,  and  two  voices  were  heard  talking,  though 
Home  kept  speaking  all  the  time  to  show  it  was 
not  his  voice.  Mrs.  Boldero  walked  over  to  the 
piano,  and  saw  the  notes  depressed  and  heard  lovely 
chords.  The  harp  was  played  next,  the  strings 
vibrating. 

A  well-known  scientist  seriously  thinks  it  a  proof 
of  an  "astral  body"  when  he  says  he  saw  his  wife 
and  children  in  a  cab  while  he  was  senseless  in  a 
dentist's  chair.  My  reader  may  make  fun  of  this 
to  his  heart's  content,  for  I  agree  with  him  that 
such  a  vision  is  a  common  result  of  laughing  gas 
and  other  anaesthetics. 

Psychic  Phenomena 

I  now  turn  from  physical  phenomena  to  those  of 
a  psychical  nature,  with  which  are  connected  all  raps 
by  which  words  are  laboriously  spelt  out,  as  well  as 
with  automatic  writing.  All  such,  more  or  less,  relate 
to  supposed  communications  from  the  dead,  or 
necromancy.  To  understand  what  follows  the  reader 
must  grasp  that  all  messages  have  to  pass  through 
four  personalities.  First  of  all,  the  supposed  spirit 
of  the  departed  "speaks"  to  the  "control"  of  the 
medium — sometimes,  as  in  Mrs.  Piper's  case, 


42  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

a  North  American  Indian  (also  dead),  who  speaks  in 
negro  language  for  some  unknown  reason!  The 
control  then  communicates  this  message  to  the 
medium,  who  then  makes  it  known  to  the  sitter,  who 
then  tells  his  friends,  of  whom  the  reader  may  be 
one.  Sometimes  the  "control,"  using  the  medium's 
hand  to  write,  or  rapping  the  table  himself,  shortens 
the  process;  as  a  rule,  however,  the  message  passes, 
with  more  or  less  distortion,  through  four  minds — 
the  spirit's,  the  control's,  the  medium's,  and  the 
inquirer's. 

Hodgson  and  Moses 

Later  on  I  shall  fully  discuss  the  pros  and  cons 
of  the  truth  of  alleged  communications  from  the 
dead;  here  I  shall  only  give,  very  shortly,  some 
carefully  selected  facts  connected  with  this  and  other 
subjects. 

Professor  Hodgson,  of  Boston,  is  said  to  have 
begun  to  speak  through  the  medium  Mrs.  Piper,  who 
had  acted  solely  under  his  guidance  for  twenty  years, 
eight  days  after  his  death,  and  to  have  continued 
since. 

At  a  sitting  in  August,  1874,  of  Mr.  Stainton  Moses 
with  an  Isle  of  Wight  doctor,  they  received  a  com- 
munication from  Abraham  Florentin,  who  stated 
he  had  fought  in  1812,  and  died  at  Brooklyn,  New 
York,  on  August  5th,  1874.  No  one  had  ever  heard 
of  him;  but  advertisements  inserted  in  American 
papers  brought  to  light  that  a  man  of  this  name  had 
been  in  the  American  Forces,  and  the  headquarters 
of  the  U.  S.  Army  said  that  a  Private  Abraham 
Florentin  had  served  in  the  American  War.  His 


PHENOMENA  OF  MODERN  SPIRITISM  43 

widow  was  found,  and  stated  he  had  died  on  August 
5th,  1874.  Full  reports  of  this  case  are  in  the  Pro- 
ceedings of  the  Psychical  Research  Society,  Vol.  XI. 

With  regard  to  the  story  of  Abraham  Florentin, 
F.  W.  H.  Myers  remarks:  "I  hold  that  the  surviving 
spirit  of  A.  F.  really  did  speak  through  Mr.  Stainton 
Moses."  By  now  Mr.  Myers  probably  knows  if  this 
belief  is  true. 

Other  Cases 

When  E.  R.  Bates  was  taking  a  message  the  table 
rapped  out  "H  A."  Bates  said  "The  next  letter 
is  'V,'"  but  a  most  emphatic  "no"  came;  so  they 
went  on  through  the  alphabet,  and  got  to  Y  without 
response;  but  at  Z  a  clear  "yes"  came.  Then 
"A"  came,  and  the  message  read,  "You  hazard 
my  respect  if  you  don't  give  up  occult  science." 

A  spirit  message  given  through  a  private  medium 
in  England  was  finished,  three  days  later,  by  Mrs. 
Piper,  in  Boston  with  the  remark  from  the  spirit, 
' '  I  am  afraid  I  did  not  make  myself  quite  clear  three 
days  ago." 

A  well-known  medium  had  living  friends  who 
could  write  messages  by  his  hand  easier  than  he 
could  write  himself,  and  did  so. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  automatic  writing  is 
always  preferred  to  raps,  being  so  much  quicker. 

Of  course,  its  chief  objective  has  always  been,  for 
the  last  fifty  years,  the  hope  that  it  may  bring  the 
living  into  touch  with  some  one  beyond  the  grave. 

Sir  Hugh  Lane 

Mrs.  Travers-Smith,  on  the  evening  of  the  sinking 
of  the  Lusitania,  had  a  message  at  a  seance:  "Pray 


44 

for  the  soul  of  Sir  Hugh  Lane;"  and  in  answer  to 
the  question,  "Who  is  speaking?"  came  "I  am  Sir 
Hugh  Lane."  She  did  not  know  he  was  a  passenger. 
She  then  got  a  further  message  from  him,  and  he 
said  he  was  drowned,  and  didn't  suffer.  News  of 
his  death  came  days  after* 

Professor  Jacks,  then  President  of  the  S.P.R., 
says  a  spirit  told  him  about  a  MS.  lying  in  his  study 
drawer,  of  which  no  one  knew  but  himself,  and 
quoted  from  it. 

"Spirits,"  says  Professor  Jacks,  "are  apt  to  get 
mixed.  For  instance,  if  speaking  to  Sir  Walter 
Scott,  the  spirit  would  declare  he  died  one  thousand 
miles  from  Abbotsford;  and,  when  asked  which 
Scott  he  was,  would  reply,  'Sir  Gilbert.'" 

Professor  Jacks  said  he  did  not  know  what  to  make 
of  all  this.  It  seemed  to  him,  after  all  these  years, 
they  were  only  beginning ;  and  the  haste  some  people 
were  showing  to  prove  that  "survival  after  death" 
was  the  only  explanation  was  only  damaging 
inquiry. 

After  all,  it  is  not  perhaps  what  is  said  on  these 
occasions  that  is  of  so  much  importance,  as  the  mere 
fact  that  anything  is  said  at  all. 

When  I  was  at  Elizabeth  College,  in  Guernsey, 
the  niece  of  our  then  ambassador  at  Berlin,  a  lady 
well  known  at  the  Prussian  Court  in  1850,  used  to 
show  me  sheets  and  sheets  of  automatic  writing,  and 
beautifully  drawn  and  painted  fruit  and  flowers, 
done  with  great  rapidity  by  her  hand,  used  in- 
voluntarily. When,  however,  raps  and  voices  suc- 
ceeded she  got  frightened  and  gave  it  all  up.  An 
Arab  gentleman,  known  to  me,  did  not  give  it  up, 


PHENOMENA  OF  MODERN  SPIRITISM  45 

with  the  result  he  became  possessed  with  an  evil 
spirit,  of  which  case  I  will  say  more  in  Chapter  VII. 


I  proceed  now  to  what  follows  not  without  pain; 
for  I  have  known  Sir  Oliver  Lodge,  and  spoken  at 
his  charming  house  at  Birmingham;  and  I  can  fully 
understand  the  irresistible  appeal  once  more  to 
speak  to  his  son  that  prompted  all  recorded  in 
"Raymond."  Many  widows  have  come  to  me 
respecting  communications  with  their  sons  who 
died  in  the  Great  War,  asking  if  the  messages  they 
received  were  indeed  from  the  dead,  and  whether 
it  was  right  for  them,  as  Christian  women,  to  hold 
such  communications.  Tenderly,  very  tenderly, 
must  such  cases  be  dealt  with,  and  I  hold  that 
"Raymond"  calls  for  similar  treatment. 

To  the  bereaved  mothers  I  could  only  lay  stress  on 
all  there  was  of  hope  and  comfort,  while  gently  sug- 
gesting that  what  they  heard  was  probably  but  the 
reflex  of  the  image  their  boy  had  himself  stamped 
upon  their  hearts,  and,  therefore,  subjective  and  not 
objective.*  Perhaps  I  may  be  allowed  to  add  how 
deeply  I  appreciate  the  lofty,  if  mistaken,  motives 
that  led  Sir  Oliver  to  risk  his  professional  fame  by 
the  publication  of  such  a  book. 

Examination  of  Testimony 

I  do  not  say,  with  regard  to  "Raymond,"  that  the 
recorded  communications  were  all  subjective  pro- 

*  So  far  all  such  cases  have  been  most  easily  explained  by  the 
action  of  the  unconscious  mind;  but  I  am  grieved  to  add  that, 
even  in  these  sad  cases,  the  practice  is  not  without  danger.  A 
friend  of  mine,  a  gallant  cavalry  officer,  lost  his  reason  at  Mr. 


46  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

ducts  of  the  unconscious  minds  of  those  interested; 
for,  coming  from  an  eminent  scientist,  and  under 
careful  test  conditions,  the  record  stands  so  far  in  a 
different  category;  but,  since  his  private  sorrow  has 
been  brought  by  Sir  Oliver  Lodge  himself  so  promi- 
nently before  the  public,  I  feel  that  one  may,  with- 
out offence,  carefully  examine  some  of  the  testimony 
supposed  to  proceed  from  the  boy  Raymond. 

I  must  remind  my  reader  that  all  communications 
recorded  come  through  the  four-fold  channel  I  have 
already  described,  and  that  the  controls  in  this  case 
were  principally  "Feda"  and  "Moonstone."  We 
first  notice  that  "Feda,"  the  principal  control,  is  a 
little  Oriental  girl,  who  is  said  to  have  died  in  child- 
hood, and  yet  is  perfectly  familiar  with  the  English 
language,  thought,  and  slang. 

"Moonstone"  is  an  Indian  Yogi,  who  died  at 
over  100,  and  who  is  also  proficient  in  English.  Both 
of  these,  curiously  enough,  seemed  to  be  at  call  and 
on  duty  at  any  hour,  day  or  night,  in  any  place.  In 
addition  there  is  a  Redfeather  who  talks  in  negro 
dialect,  though  presumably  a  North-American 
Indian. 

Disappointing  and  Contradictory 

Raymond,  the  brilliant,  earnest,  energetic  young 
engineer,  does  not  after  death  make  a  single  com- 
munication of  serious  import  or  utility.  He,  the 
loving  son,  does  not  even  volunteer  his  services  (on 
the  other  side).  He  is  able  to  visit  Germany  and 
inspect  the  lines;  but  he  brings  back  no  information, 

Stead's  Spirit  Bureau  from  continually  hearing  what  he  thought 
was  his  mother's  voice. 


PHENOMENA  OF  MODERN  SPIRITISM  47 

and  seems  idle  and  callously  indifferent,  both 
nationally  and  domestically.  He  appears  to  be 
still  in  uniform,  being  known  as  an  officer,  though 
his  uniform  was  burned  in  Flanders.  Later  on  he 
has  "white  robes." 

Indeed,  Raymond's  story  of  the  six  or  seven 
revolving  spheres  around  the  globe  (purely  theo- 
sphical)  struck  Sir  Oliver  Lodge  as  "nonsense,"  for 
these  gigantic  revolving  spheres  would  necessarily 
shut  out  the  sun,  as  well  as  alter  all  astronomical 
conditions. 

Raymond's  reports  of  the  next  world  reveal  it  as 
practically  all  English,  with  a  few  Indians  and 
French. 

Some  Absurdities 

Raymond,  referring  to  his  family,  shows  an  "H" 
instead  of  saying  "his  sister  Honor,"  which  he  could 
just  as  well  do,  if  the  message  came  from  him.* 

When  he  speaks  of  "something  rising,  which, 
when  it  comes  to  the  ether,  etc.,"  Sir  Oliver  must  have 
had  a  queer  feeling  of  disgust,  his  doctrine  (which 
is  generally  accepted)  being  that  the  ether  is  ''all- 
pervading." 

When  asked  about  table-tilting,  etc.,  the  trained 
engineer  can  only  repeat  the  stock  chestnut  that  "it 
gathers  magnetism,  and  we  [spirits]  move  it." 

He  never  mentions  any  great  departed  spirits, 
such  as  Lord  Kelvin,  Faraday,  Tyndall,  and  hosts 
of  others. 

The  dead  (though  dead  thirty  years)  are  always 

*  One  can  appreciate  the  wise  caution  shown,  if,  however,  the 
message  came  solely  from  the  medium. 


described,  not  as  they  are,  but  as  they  exist  in  the 
sitters'  minds  when  they  were  known  to  them  on 
earth. 

Evil  Spirits 

But  enough  for  the  present;  we  must  conclude 
this  most  indigestible  chapter  with  one  word  about 
the  spirits. 

The  doctrine  of  Modern  Spiritism  is  that  the  only 
spirits  "on  the, other  side"  are  those  of  the  departed! 

"Devils,"  says  Thomas  Jay  Hudson,  a  leading 
American  scientist,  "are  out  of  fashion,  and  their 
place  is  taken  by  bad  spirits  of  dead  men." 

In  Spiritism,  as  Allan  Kardec,  the  great  French 
apostle,  clearly  teaches,  there  are  no  devils.  The 
bad  spirits  are  only  imperfectly  developed  "angels," 
which  are  the  spirits  of  the  good. 

"Some  spirits,"  wrote  Stainton  Moses,  "will  say 
anything  without  any  moral  conscience.  Such 
motiveless  lying  bespeaks  a  deeply  evil  nature. 
Such  an  imposter,  acting  with  an  air  of  sincerity, 
must  be  as  Satan  clothed  in  light." 

Dr.  Peebles,  a  veteran  Spiritist,  recently  says  that 
"an  evilly  inclined  spirit  may  often  be  present. 
Many  Spiritist  seances  are  the  seed-grounds  of 
demons;  their  manifestations  are  from  the  hells. 
They  constitute  the  very  essence  of  witchcraft  under 
a  more  polished  name"  ("The  Demonism  of  the 
Ages,"  p.  217). 

Possession 

It  is  clear  the  whole  atmosphere  of  the  stance,  and 
the  ultimate  object  of  Spiritism,  is  the  reduction  to 
passivity  and  the  eventual  entire  surrender  of  the 


PHENOMENA  OF  MODERN  SPIRITISM  49 

will,  thus  gaining  its  control  with  a  view  to  spirit- 
possession. 

As  Chapter  VII.  is  largely  devoted  to  this  subject,  I 
say  no  more  about  the  condition,  which  students  of 
the  subject  and  many  of  our  leading  alienists  know 
well,  and  which  is  as  clearly  marked  and  undeniable 
to-day  as  are  the  cases  recorded  in  the  Gospels.  It  is 
difficult  to  believe  that,  when  their  awful  character 
is  known,  Spiritists  can  possibly  believe  such  beings 
are  the  spirits  of  the  dead — it  is  a  degradation  of, 
and  an  insult  to,  humanity ! 

I  have  made  no  comments  on  the  facts  (and 
fancies)  I  have  recorded,  for  this  is  not  the  place; 
and  I  fear  that  I  have  greatly  failed  to  describe 
sufficiently  the  commonplace  and  trivial  character 
of  most  seances. 

Unhealthy  Atmosphere 

The  whole  atmosphere  to  me  seems  profoundly 
unhealthy,  and,  to  a  certain  extent,  repellent  to 
common  sense  and  repugnant  to  reason,  on  account 
of  the  inane  frivolities  that  beset  ordinary  seances. 
Similar,  indeed,  are  the  impenetrable  wonders  of  a 
conjurer,  but  with  a  great  difference. 

A  conjurer  does  things  that  baffle  our  reasoning 
powers  and  defy  our  senses  to  explain;  but  does  it 
all  by  sleight  of  hand  and  apparatus,  and  by  means 
well  understood  by  us.  In  a  seance  it  is  not  so.  We 
there  see  marvels  as  inexplicable  to  us  as  conjuring 
tricks;  but  here  there  is  no  conjurer  apparent;  on 
the  contrary,  a  medium  is  seen  lying  or  sitting  in  a 
trance,  more  or  less  asleep,  while  weird  physical 
phenomena  go  on  all  around,  seeking  from  us  a  belief 

M.S.  4 


50  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

that    they    proceed    from    superhuman    powers    of 
which  we  know  nothing. 

I  have  pointed  out  that,  broadly,  all  phenomena 
may  ultimately  be  ranged  under  the  two  heads  of  the 
physical  and  the  psychical;  but  I  have  not  shown 
that  the  entrance  to  these  two  is  also  two-fold,  and 
is  nearly  always  either  by  table-turning,  or  planchette 
writing,  or  by  other  similar  apparatus. 

Hidden  Dangers  of  Spiritism 

Hundreds  of  innocent  young  people  regard  these 
as  popular,  quite  harmless,  and  often  very  amusing 
drawing-room  diversions,  being  ignorant  that  in 
very  many  cases  they  have  proved  to  be  the  portals 
to  a  growing  and  most  undesirable  acquaintance  with 
another  world.  Most  of  those  who  indulge  in  these 
simple  beginnings  have  not  the  slightest  intention  of 
proceeding  further,  and  of  ever  becoming  Spiritists, 
still  less  of  dabbling  in  the  mysteries  of  the  other 
world;  nor  have  they  any  wish  to  transgress  in  any 
way,  or  to  act  contrary  to,  their  own  moral  or  religious 
principles.  But  the  "  des census  averni"  is  unusually 
"/adlis"  in  this  case,  and,  before  they  have  any 
idea  of  it,  many  find  themselves  more  and  more 
interested  and  involved  in  phenomena  of  increasing 
significance.  Raps  are  continually  heard,  often  at 
night.  They  begin  to  experience  a  haunted  feeling; 
and  yet,  though  repelled,  they  are  still  more  strongly 
attracted  by  a  growing  love  for  a  pursuit  which  they 
are  beginning  to  feel  is  unlawful,  and  certainly 
is  very  mysterious;  and  one  which  for  many 
reasons  they  often  find  it  advisable  to  keep 
secret. 


PHENOMENA  OF  MODERN  SPIRITISM  51 

It  is  not  long  before  the  whole  current  of  the  life 
becomes  a  little  changed,  and  the  character  alters 
for  the  worse. 

The  Wreck  of  the  Ill-balanced 

In  sound,  well-balanced  characters  matters  may 
not  proceed  further.  Indeed,  at  such  a  stage,  as 
with  a  clever  friend  of  mine,  the  network  may  be 
broken  and  the  victim  freed. 

But,  alas!  in  weak  and  ill-balanced  natures, 
easily  influenced,  the  spell  has  often  become  too 
strong;  and  the  simple  table-turning  or  planchette 
writing  has  in  these  much  to  answer  for  in  a  wrecked 
life. 

This  picture  is  not  overdrawn,  and  not  so  uncom- 
mon as  the  ignorant  may  suppose.  The  Great  War 
has,  alas!  from  causes  we  can  only  regard  with 
reverence  and  sympathy,  brought  many  into  the 
toils  of  Spiritism.  Let  me  again  say  that  it  is  very 
difficult  to  refuse  any  source  of  comfort  to  a  distressed 
heart,  and  so  easy  to  believe  that  the  subjective 
is  indeed  objective,  and  that  the  loving  messages 
received,  and  perhaps  visions  which  are  seen,  are 
proofs  of  the  presence  of  the  loved  and  mourned 
one  "on  the  other  side,"  that  it  seems  the  height  of 
cruelty  to  interpose  with  one's  scientific  knowledge 
and  wise  counsels.  And  yet  I  have  had  to  do  it,  in 
all  gentleness,  and  with  firm  decision  point  out  the 
real  source  of  the  phenomena  in  the  unconscious 
mind  and  its  newly-discovered  powers,  and  the 
significant  fact  that  it  must  be  for  some  very  wise 
and  necessary  reason  that  communication  with  the 
dead  is  so  strongly  forbidden  in  the  Old  Testament, 

4—2 


and  nowhere  countenanced  in  the  New.  I  need  not 
say  more  here,  as  Chapter  X.  is  on  the  "Dangers  of 
Spiritism;"  but,  as  some  of  my  readers  may  not 
get  so  far,  I  thought  it  well  to  interpose  a  much- 
needed  word  of  caution  here. 


j     ;.:.  K    HrorJ  •-      '     ':'  •! 

•  :       ,  -  ':  '    •  •    . 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  SPIRITISTS'  OTHER  WORLD 
The  World  After  Death 

"WHEN  you  establish  a  world  after  death,  you 
alter  the  proportion  of  everything,"  remarks  a  well- 
known  scientist.  Few  will  dispute  the  statement, 
but  many  will  rub  their  eyes  and  wonder  if  they've 
been  asleep,  for  they  thought  that  this  fact  had  been 
established  ages  ago,  and  was  a  belief  practically 
common  to  every  religion  from  time  immemorial. 

"That  may  be  so,"  I  suppose  a  scientist  might 
reply;  "but  until  established  scientifically  it  does 
not  exist  for  us." 

Scientific  Evidence 

There  is,  of  course,  a  wide  range  of  subjects  which 
are  not  yet  "established"  by  the  general  consensus 
of  scientists,  but  which  "exist,"  though  not  for 
them.  We  might  even  include  among  these  the 
separate  life  of  the  "spirit."  This,  of  course,  is 
denied  entirely  by  all  "monists"  (represented  by 
Haeckel  and  others),  who  regard  thought  as  a  secretion 
of  the  brain,  somewhat  comparable  to  bile  from 
the  liver.  It  is  also  doubted  by  some  others,  though 
monism  is  now  a  little  out  of  date. 

But  even  if  not  established  on  general  scientific 
authority,  the  fact  of  another  world  is  asserted, 


54  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

as  is  pointed  out  in  the  Gospels,  by  Moses  and  the 
prophets,  and  by  Christ  Himself,  who  replies,  when 
asked  to  give  a  scientific  demonstration  of  it,  that 
such  would  be  useless;  for  if  people  would  not  believe 
adequate  testimony,  a  miracle  would  not  convince 
them  (St.  Luke  xvi.).  But  there  is  more  in  this 
question  of  so-called  "scientific  evidence"  than 
this. 

We  All  Live  By  Faith 

We,  the  public,  are  all,  surprising  to  say,  men  of 
"faith,"  /ather  than  of  "evidence."  None  of  us, 
speaking  broadly,  know  that  water  is  composed  of  two 
parts  of  a  gas  called  hydrogen  and  one  part  of  a  gas 
called  oxygen  by  any  other  means  than  faith;  we 
have  not  arrived  at  it  by  experiment.  Or  take  some 
rather  rarer  scientific  fact,  say  the  moons  of  Jupiter. 
To  all  but  some  half-dozen  these  moons  round  that 
great  planet  are  matters  of  faith.  I  am  not,  how- 
ever, aware  that  the  existence  of  such  moons  is  a 
matter  of  doubt  to  any  one,  so  great  is  the  faith 
of  the  public  in  the  word  of  those  few  astronomers 
who  alone  have  seen  them.  I  maintain,  then,  that 
we  live  by  faith  in  the  recorded  evidence  of  others, 
and  not  by  evidence. 

I  think  we  may  not  have  noticed  this  fact  before, 
and  how  the  whole  life  of  every  atheist,  of  every 
sceptic,  equally  with  that  of  all  other  people,  is 
essentially  a  life  of  faith  of  the  most  implicit  kind. 
Faith  is  indeed  such  an  essential  in  all  commercial 
and  ordinary  life  that  it  is  not  noticed.  No  one 
thinks  it  wonderful  that  we  hand  over  twenty  good 
silver  shillings  without  a  doubt  in  exchange  for  a 


THE  SPIRITISTS'  OTHER  WORLD          55 

dirty,  greasy  scrap  of  paper  that  an  abstraction, 
called  the  Government,  asserts  is  a  one-pound  note. 
No  one  thinks  it  wonderful  that  a  merchant  will  send 
away  £  1,000  worth  of  goods  on  his  faith  in  the 
signature  on  a  bit  of  paper  of  a  man  he  has  never 
seen,  but  whose  writing  he  believes  it  to  be.  Life  is 
all  faith  from  beginning  to  end,  and  without  it  this 
nation  could  not  go  on  for  a  single  day. 

We  Believe  Any  One  but  Christ 

It  almost  looks  as  if  we  could  believe  with  the 
utmost  ease  in  the  word  of  anybody  save  the 
One  .whom  we  profess  to  exalt  with  the  utmost 
honour  as  the  King  of  men — the  man  Christ 
Jesus.  I  have  never  heard  any  one  say  a  word 
against  Him;  but  I  have  known  so  many  who 
could  not  trust  His  word.  His  solemn  statement 
respecting  the  next  world,  and  the  details  He 
gives  us  concerning  it,  are  treated  as  so  entirely 
unworthy  of  credit  that,  as  I  pointed  out  in  the 
second  chapter,  a  very  recent  writer,  specially  com- 
mended to  us  by  Sir  A.  Conan  Doyle,  writes  of  the 
other_wjQrld  as  if  its  existence  were  now  being  dis- 
covered by  Spiritists  for  the  first  time,  without 
making  the  slightest  allusion  to  the  fact  that  2,000 
£ars_agojChris1;.  told  us  a.  great  .deal  about  it,  and 
that  almost  every  fact  He  told  us  contradicts  the 
supposed  discoveries  of  Modern  Spiritism.  It  is 
difficult  to  understand  such  an  attitude  of  mind 
anywhere,  but  in  a  Christian  country  religion  must 
be  at  a  very  low  ebb,  "Eo  say  nothing  more,  when 
His  Word,  who  calls  Himself  "the  Truth,"  is  not 
even  worth  the  trouble  of  doubting,  but  is  simply 


S6  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

ignored,  as  if  He  had  never  spoken  and  no  Gospel 
had  ever  been  written.* 

Spiritism  the  Result  of  Unbelief 

After  labouring  in  vain  to  prove  the  evangelists 
false,  critics  have  been  obliged  to  accept  them  as 
genuine,  and  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  as  a  historical 
personage,  whom  apparently  all  still  delight  to 
honour,  more  or  less,  with  their  lips,  but  whose 
Word  is  absolutely  valueless  compared  with  that  of 
mediums,  or  even  ordinary  men  of  business!  I  may 
go  further,  and  say  it  is  only  because  men  do  not 
believe  the  Word  of  God  that  Spiritism  has  obtained 
any  footing.  It  is  absurd  to  speak  of  "priestcraft" 
as  the  cause,  for  Spiritism  has  most  following  in 
America,  where  there  is  practically  none. 

It  is  not  my  intention  here  in  this  chapter  to 
describe  the  other  world  as  Christ  showed  it  to  us. 
On  the  contrary,  we  have  very  briefly  to  find  out 
what  Spiritists  believe  it  to  be. 

Spiritist  Glimpses 

We  are  indeed  told  with  great  confidence  that  "in 
a  few  years  people  on  earth  will  know  through 
Spiritism  much  more  about  the  spirit  world  than 

*  This  seems  exactly  on  a  par  with  the  following  from  the 
Times  of  April  igth,  1919:  "  To-day  there  is  better  thinking  and 
writing  on  social  or  national  subjects  than  ever  was  in  the  wprld 
before.  .  .  .  But  the  eye  is  not  on  the  History  of  the  whole 
soul ....  To  read  it  you  would  not  guess  you  were  in  a  Chris- 
tian country,  with  a  long  Christian  tradition  shaping  its  society. 
You  would  receive  the  impression  that  its  religion  had  no  more 
to  do  with  its  affairs  than  a  harem,  that  is  kept  behind  the 
purdah ....  Hardly  a  reference  is  made  to  the  Kingdom  of 
God." 


THE  SPIRITISTS'  OTHER  WORLD        57 

they  do  now."  We  will  see  first  what  they  have 
already  been  taught. 

Maeterlinck,  in  his  "Unknown  Guest,"  says: 
"The  glimpses  Spiritism  gives  us  of  the  next  world 
are  none  too  assuring.  The  dead  there,  to-day, 
seem  strangely  like  those  Ulysses  conjured  up  out  of 
the  Cimmerian  darkness;  pale,  empty  shades, 
bewildered,  incoherent.  They  appear  much  more 
up  in  this  world  than  in  their  own.  They  seem 
intensely  anxious  to  establish  their  own  identity, 
and  recall  most  trivial  details.  They  say  and  do 
the  most  inexplicable  things;  but  give  no  real 
glimpse  of  the  hereafter. 

"But  Messrs.  Myers,  Hodgson,  and  William  James, 
being  earnest  inquirers  of  mediums  (on  earth),  are 
now  themselves  in  the  next  world,  and  know  all. 

F.  W.  H.  Myers  and  "Katie  King" 

"A  month  after  F.  W.  H.  Myers'  death  he  spoke, 
and  (in  one  thing)  was  not  changed.  He  at  once  told 
them  to  take  notes!  But  he  seemed  dazed.  •  He  had 
forgotten  the  Society  of  Psychical  Research  (of 
which  he  had  been  President,  and  where  he  did 
so  much  work) !  When  first  dead  he  thought  he  was 
in  a  strange  town  (on  earth),  and  was  groping  about." 

"Katie  King,"  Sir  Wm.  Crookes'  materialised 
spirit  from  the  other  world,  never  uttered  one  word 
of  its  secrets,  or  told  us  a  single  new -thing  about  it 
during  the  years  she  visited  him ! 

One  spirit  says,  speaking  of  Spiritist  revelations: 
"All  will  be  destroyed  that  is  believed  by  the 
Church,  but,  at  the  same  time,  the  spirits  have 
nothing  to  tell  us  that  was  not  declared  by  Jesus!" 


S8  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

This  absurd  statement  is  equally  false  in  all  its 
parts.  The  Church  and  Christ  are  not  thus  mutually 
destructive,  and  all  that  "Raymond"  says,  as  well 
as  all  the  statements  of  the  rest  of  the  spirits,  with 
the  exception,  as  we  shall  see,  of  those,  who  spoke 
through  a  few  pious  mediums,  is  precisely  what 
"was  not  declared  by  Jesus." 

Mr.  Stead  and  "Julia" 

Respecting  God,  the  utterances  of  whoever  spoke 
through  Mr.  Stead  (who  was  at  any  rate  a  reverent 
believer  in  Scripture),  whether  "Julia"  (Miss  JuUa 
Ames),  or  himself,  are  most  beautiful.  I  will  give 
an  example  or  two,  just  to  show  that  Stead's  "other 
world"  is  at  the  very  opposite  pole  from  Raymond's; 
and  it  seems  too  great  a  strain  to  believe  that  both 
records  are  true!  Stead  says: — 

"The  whole  difference  in  Heaven  is  that  we  live 
in  love.  We  live  in  misery  now;  but  God  is  love, 
and  the  law  of  spiritual  growth.  Christ  is  Incarnate 
Divinity,  and  we  are  one  army  of  the  living 
God. 

"  Don't  cross  God  out  of  your  life.  All  round  man 
lies  the  quickening  Spirit  of  God.  All  earthly  words 
fail  to  describe  the  love  of  God.  The  ozone  of  our 
life  is  love.  God  has  not  left  man  in  darkness,  nor 
has  He  given  a  misleading  light. 

"I  was  not  a  saint  nor  an  angel,"  says  "Julia" 
(showing  angels  are  distinct  to  her).  "We  live  in 
the  very  love  of  God.  We  bring  with  us  all  our 
moral  diseases,  but  get  cured  here.  Souls  need  a 
Saviour  and  a  Deliverer. 

"  In  my  Lord  dwells  all  the  fullness  of  the  Godhead 


THE  SPIRITISTS'  OTHER  WORLD        59 

bodily;   God  is  love,  and  love  to  me.     Heaven  is 
full  of  Christ,  and  the  bliss  of  seeing  Him." 

Confusion  of  Spiritism 

I  do  not  say  there  is  anything  new  to  Christian 
ears  in  all  this;  but  we  can  certainly  feel  we  are  in  a 
Christian  atmosphere,  very  different  from  that  of 
Mrs.  Piper  or  Eusapia  Palladino.  Here  we  are,  at 
any  rate,  taught  that  God  is  a  person,  and  pervades 
heaven.  Elsewhere  in  Spiritism  we  are  taught, 
with  equal  assurance:  (i)  that  everything  is  God 
(pantheism) ;  (2)  that  there  is  no  God  (atheism) ;  and 
(3)  that  we  are  God  (modernism). 

The  plain  man  gets  rather  impatient  with  such 
confusion,  and  I  think  most  will  agree  with  me  that, 
in  the  reconstruction  which  is  now  everywhere  in 
the  air,  not  the  least  important  item  is  the  return  of 
the  nation  to  a  belief  in  the  Word  of  God,  that 
impregnable  rock  of  Holy  Scripture,  of  which  Christ 
Himself  declared:  "Heaven  and  earth  shall  pass 
away,  but  My  words  shall  not  pass  away." 

Great  Need  of  Clear  Thinking 

Why,  at  the  present  moment,  a  vast  number  will 
probably  even  rather  believe  the  marvels  recorded  in 
this  book,  with  all  its  faults  and  possible  errors,  and 
written  by  a  busy  physician,  than  the  marvels  of  the 
Bible  is  inexplicable;  and,  more  wondrous  still, 
sane  men  and  women  (called  by  some  "thoughtful") 
actually  place  more  faith  in  the  incoherent  contra- 
dictions of  Spiritism  than  in  the  sublime  authori- 
tative utterances  of  the  Bible  respecting  the  other 


60  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

world.     The    "sanity"    that    shows    such    credulity 
does  not  seem  to  include  "clear  thinking." 

Let  me  here  remind  my  readers  that  no  amount 
of  moving  or  floating  of  furniture,  etc.,  reveals  any- 
thing of  another  world;  and  that  even  the  materiali- 
sation of  "spirits"  is  no  proof  of  anything  respecting . 
the  dead,  as  it  occurs  with  the  living  as  well,  as 
recorded  in  that  remarkable  work  "Phantasms  of 
the  Living."  The  following  instance,  well  known  to 
myself,  will  explain  what  I  mean. 

W.  T.  Stead  and  Mrs.  Morris 

Mrs.  Morris,  who  was  Mr.  Stead's  right  hand, 
and  who  wrote  all  those  cheap  abridgments  of 
popular  works  that  used  to  be  so  conspicuous  on 
our  bookstalls,  lived  in  Bayswater,  and  was  con- 
stantly under  my  eye.  She  had,  however,  never 
been  to  Wimbledon,  though  so  often  pressed  to 
go  by  Mr.  Stead,  who  lived  there.  One  Sunday 
morning,  at  church  there,  to  the  amazement  and 
delight  of  Mr.  Stead,  in  walked  the  very  well- 
known  figure  of  Mrs.  Morris,  with  her  enormous  and 
unmistakable  picture-hat  that  was  common  talk 
all  over  Bayswater.  He  watched  her  go  up  the  aisle 
to  a  front  seat,  and  never  took  his  eyes  off  her, 
noticing  particularly  that  she  found  she  had  no 
money  in  her  pocket  for  the  offertory.  At  the  close 
of  the  service  she  rose  before  the  others,  and  passed 
down  the  aisle,  followed  closely  by  Mr.  Stead,  who 
wanted  her  to  come  to  lunch;  but  when  he  got 
outside  she  had  vanished.  He  went  immediately  to 
the  station,  but  she  never  came  there. 

On  Monday  morning  he  went  to  Bayswater  to  know 


THE  SPIRITISTS'  OTHER  WORLD        61 

why  she  had  evaded  him,  only  to  find  she  had  been 
in  bed  three  days  with  bronchitis,  and  her  mother, 
in  attendance,  declared  Mrs.  Morris  had  never  left 
her  room.  Mr.  Stead  was  not  the  man  to  let  matters 
rest  here,  but  went  off  at  once  to  the  S.P.R.  and 
enlisted  the  services  of  the  late  Mr.  Frank  Podmore. 
He  went  down  to  Wimbledon,  and  came  to  Bays- 
water,  and  interviewed  all  sorts  of  people,  and, 
finally,  wrote  his  conclusion,  which  certainly  did  not 
satisfy  Mr.  Stead:  "That  it  was  quite  established 
that  Mrs.  Morris  had  attended  the  morning  service 
at  Wimbledon  Church  that  morning;  and  also  that, 
at  the  same  time,  she  was  in  her  bed  in  Bayswater; 
but,  inasmuch  as  a  person  could  not  be  in  two  places 
at  the  same  time,  there  must  be  some  mistake 
somewhere!" 

Hasty  Theories  Condemned 

It  is  only  when  the  reader  has  read  "Phantasms 
of  the  Living"  that  he  discovers  this  class  of  case  is 
too  common  and  well  evidenced  to  be  dismissed  as 
being  all  mistakes.  I  quite  grant  that  all  true 
materialisations  are,  in  the  present  state  of  our  knowl- 
edge, not  wholly  explicable;  but  I  submit  that,  if 
our  grandfathers  had  been  told  that  the  point  of  a 
steel  needle,  pressing  into  a  groove  in  a  revolving 
hard  vulcanite  disc,  would  produce,  not  a  scratching 
sound,  but  the  blending  in  perfect  harmony  of  four 
voices  at  the  same  moment,  or  the  simultaneous 
sounds  of  the  various  instruments  in  a  full  brass 
band,  they  would  with  one  consent  have  declared  it, 
not  only  inexplicable,  but  impossible,  and  ourselves 
rather  daring  liars.  It  might  happen,  therefore, 


62 

amid  so  many  marvels,  that  the  secret  of  materiali- 
sation may  yet  be  fully  revealed,  without  our  having 
hasty  recourse  to  "spirit"  theories.  Once  more, 
then,  let  me  emphasise  the  fact  that  no  theories  of 
another  world  can  be  based  on  physical  phenomena, 
and  that  the  doctrines  of  Spiritism,  such  as  they 
are,  rest  on  the  supposed  objective  communications 
received  through  mediums  and  otherwise. 

"Julia"  Reflects  Stead's  Mind 

But  to  return,  and  continue  our  epitome  of  the 
Spiritist  presentment  of  the  other  world.  Mr.  Stead, 
in  speaking  further  of  the  departed,  is  equally  devout, 
though  hardly  so  orthodox.  He  says  (or,  rather,  the 
spirit  speaking  through  him):  "All  the  saved  and 
lost  meet  a  message  of  love  and  mercy  when  they 
die;  but  some  know  Christ  not,  and  the  lost  see  Him 
not."  "There  are  three  essentials  to  see  the  eternal 
realities:  the  heart  of  a  child,  keen  common-sense, 
and  patience."  How  intensely  "W.  T.  Steadish" 
all  these  communications  are,  and  what  a  gulf  between 
them  and  others  we  shall  quote  from  the  same 
Spiritist  faith!  Truly,  in  this  case,"  from  the  same 
fountain  come  sweet  waters  and  bitter! 

As  to  locale,  we  are  told  by  one  spirit  the  other 
world  is  on  the  earth  just  where  we  are;  by  another 
that  it  is  beyond  the  Milky  Way — a  distance  so 
remote  that,  travelling  at  twelve  million  miles  a 
minute,  it  would  take  some  15,000  years  to  reach! 

Assured  Conviction  of  Spiritism 

Sir  Oliver  Lodge  seems  to  know  more  than  most 
about  this  mysterious  region,  and,  in  "Christopher," 


THE  SPIRITISTS'  OTHER  WORLD          63 

a  recent  book  (p.  61),  speaks  as  follows:  "In  the 
light  of  this  assured  conviction  of  Spiritism*.  .  . 
how  impious  appears  the  attitude  of  those  who, 
dominated  by  priestcraft,  seek  anxiously  to  know 
the  fate  of  their  departed,  torment  themselves  with 
hopes  and  fears,  question  whether  they  are  saved, 
and  endeavour  to  convince  themselves  that  (their) 
eternal  fate  is  settled  once  and  for  ever ...  at  the 
instant  of  death."  "Impious"  is  distinctly  bold; 
though,  if  one  may  suggest  it  to  Sir  Oliver,  hardly 
descriptive  of  those  who  hold  the  faith  he  so  strongly 
condemns.  The  impious,  on  the  contrary  so  far  as 
we  know,  hold  no  such  tenets,  and,  as  a  rule,  are 
quite  indifferent  to  the  whole  subject. 

"Christopher" 

For  something  a  little  more  positive  let  us  turn 
over  the  leaves  of  "Christopher"  (Sir  Oliver  Lodge) 
a  little  further,  to  page  254.  Here  F.  W.  H.  Myers, 
speaking  now  from  the  other  world,  says:  "Firstly 
and  chiefly,  I  see  ground  to  believe  that  the  state  of 
the  dead  is  one  of  endless  evolution  .  .  .  their  loves 
of  earth  persist  .  .  .  the  communion  of  saints  .  .  . 
constitutes  the  life  everlasting.  Even  our  loving 
memory  .  .  .  supports  .  .  .  these  delivered  spirits 
upon  their  upward  way.  No  wonder,  since  we  are  to 
them  but  as  fellow-travellers,  shrouded  in  a  (earthly) 
mist.  '  Neither  death  nor  life,  nor  height  nor  depth, 

*  But,  alas !  Spiritism  has  no  assured  convictions,  as  I  feel 
certain  Sir  Oliver  well  knows,  but  is  one  mass  of  contradictions. 
One  would  have  hoped  that  the  bathos  of  Raymond  about  the 
next  world,  published  shortly  before,  would  have  now  suggested 
silence  about  it  as  more  suitable.  . 


64  MODERN   SPIRITISM 

nor  any  other  creature  can  bar  us  from  the  hearth 
fires  of  the  universe. ' ' 

We  leave  the  reader  to  choose  between  the  bathos 
of  this  appalling  misquotation  and  the  true  con- 
clusion of  St.  Paul — "can  separate  us  from  the  love 
of  God,  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord."  Strange 
and  piteous  that  the  gifted  author  of  that  wonderful 
poem  "St.  Paul"  should  have  had  so  little  respect 
to  its  subject,  and  should  have  so  lowered  his  own 
great  fame  when  in  the  other  world,  where,  at  any 
rate,  we  expect  some  spiritual  advance!* 

Seven  Spheres  of  Theosophy 

After  death,  we  are  told,  there  are  seven  stages  of 
progress  through  the  seven  revolving  spheres  of 
Raymond,  who  himself  is  in  the  third  of  these. 

When  we  turn  to  Mr.  A.  P.  Sinnett,  the  well-known 
Theosophist,  we  find  this,  and  much  more,  is  Theo- 
sophy, pure  and  simple.  He  says:  "In  the  next 
world  people  seem  in  Spiritism  mainly  desirous  of 
reaffirming  the  familiar  truth,  that  to  be  happy  here- 
after, we  must  be  decently  well-behaved  in  this 
life — a  warning  which,  as  a  rule,  makes  no  deep 
impression  on  the  hearers." 

Speaking  of  the  "seven  planes,"  he  says:  "There 
are  the  astral  and  manasic  and  other  planes,  the 
ultimate  being  Karma. 

"The  astral  region  is  a  huge  hollow  sphere  (not  a 
ring)  surrounding  the  physical  globe,  like  the  atmo- 
sphere, and  revolving  with  it  round  the  sun. 

"A    great    part    of    the     spheres    is    submerged 

*  Such  a  bathos  is  surely  enough  to  any  who  knew  F.  W.  H. 
Myers  to  show  the  words  were  none  of  his ! 


THE  SPIRITISTS'  OTHER  WORLD        65 

beneath  the  solid  crust  of  the  ear'th;  here  only  the 
very  lowest  people  are  found.  The  lowest  plane  of 
the  seven  is  terrible,  so  is  the  second;  the  third  is 
just  above  the  surface  of  the  earth,  and  there  is 
great  discomfort ;  the  fourth  is  the  first  of  happiness ; 
the  fifth  is  intellectual  happiness;  the  sixth  is 
spiritual  happiness;  the  seventh  is  perfect  happiness. 
There  are  seven  rulers  of  these  spheres  of  high 
character." 

Personally  I  have  had  nightmares  not  so  bad  as 
this  concept  of  the  Theosophic  future ! 

More  of  Julia  Ames 

A  few  more  extracts  from  Julia  Ames  will  be  an 
agreeable  antidote  here.* 

As  we  have  seen,  her  spiritual  (rather  than 
"Spiritist")  letters  describe  Heaven  largely  from 
the  Christian  point  of  view,  with,  however,  some 
differences.  Her  beings  don't  eat  and  drink,  like 
Raymond's,  but  are  clothed  with  immortal  youth, 
and  are  ever  in  the  presence  of  the  Lord. 

"Peace,  joy,  and  love  is  the  atmosphere  of 
Heaven.  We  are  lost  in  love.  We  know  of  the  sin 
and  sorrow  you  of  earth  suffer.  There  is  a  Hell 
here;  but  it  is  the  joy  of  Heaven  to  be  always 
emptying  Hell"(!)  A  much  later  letter  says: 
"Hell  is  a  great  remedial  agency.  The  punishment 

*  I  may,  perhaps,  mention  that,  having  one  day  incautiously 
expressed  to  Mr.  Stead  my  approval  of  some  of  "Julia's" 
beautiful  descriptions  of  the  love  of  God,  I  was  immediately, 
without  my  consent,  to  my  great  annoyance,  made  a  "Com- 
panion of  the  Rosary  of  Julia,"  and  presented  with  a  book  of 
her  "  spirit "  revelations.  Only  now,  in  these  pages,  do  I  resume 
my  acquaintance  with  this  mythical  being  after  nearly  thirty 
years. 

M.  S.  S 


66  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

of  sin  is  remedial.  No  great  gulf  is  fixed  between 
Heaven  and  Hell.  (Bible  students  will  note  this 
correction  of  our  Lord's  words.)  The  sinner  is  unable 
to  save  himself,  and  undo  the  consequences  of  his 
sins."  "Money,  rank,  merit,  privilege,  are  nothing 
here.  The  old  Hell  is  abolished;  but  there  is  a  real 
Hell;  and  you  make  your  next  life  day  by  day  (on 
earth).  We  have  not  yet  attained;  we  press  forward 
still.  My  Guide  has  been  my  Guardian  angel  in  my 
earthly  life.  On  Christmas  Day,  1894,  my  Guide 
and  I  flew  through  space.  We  were  oppressed  by 
the  illimitable  of  the  universe.  The  motion  was  not 
flying,  it  was  by  thought.  Then  we  approached 
the  world  of  bliss;  and  here  I  met  friends."  "Am 
I  now  a  demon  or  a  familiar  spirit  ?  No.  But  evil 
agencies  exist." 

Hell 

Respecting  Hell,  the  disembodied  spirit  of  Samuel 
Wilberforce,  Bishop  of  Winchester,  on  July  aist, 
1871,  through  the  Rev.  Stainton  Moses,  is  said  to 
have  described  Hell  in  similar  terms  to  the  above. 

"Julia"  seems  to  represent  the  transition  stage  of 
Hell,  between  that  of  an  earlier  date,  and  the 
later  Spiritists.  Emanuel  Swedenborg,  in  an  earlier 
age,  was  a  great  materialist  as  to  the  other  world. 
Nevertheless,  he  found  a  Hell,  and  all  the  sects  who 
differed  from  his  own  were  there  in  endless  punish- 
ment! 

Now,  based  on  Theosophy  (of  which  "Julia" 
herself  shows  no  trace),  there  is  no  Hell.  All  are 
immortal,  and  rise  by  six  or  seven  steps  to  Karma, 
through  as  many  concentric  spheres.  After  death 


THE  SPIRITISTS'  OTHER  WORLD        67 

(not  as  the  resurrection — which  is  now  abolished)  a 
spiritual  body  is  at  once  received — an  exact  counter- 
part of  the  old.  ' '  The  sense  of  need  supplies  clothes 
when  they  are  required."  "There  is  gradual  and 
interminable  progress  in  the  next  world." 

"All  spirits  in  the  other  world  are  nothing  else 
but  the  souls  of  those  who  have  lived  here" 
("Spiritism  Unveiled,"  D.  L.  Lanslots,  p.  36).* 

"Our  guides  are  neither  male  nor  female.  We 
assume  the  bodies  of  children,  and  other  forms,  to 
gain  recognition." 

"The  bodies  of  animals  are  material,  as  on  earth, 
but  nearer  the  human  form  (!);  and  they  perform 
manual  labour  as  servants,  "f 

Banalities  from  "Raymond" 

I  trust  I  shall  not  be  accused  of  irreverence  if  I 
close  with  a  few  of  Raymond's  sketches  of  "  the  other 
side."  My  apology  (for  I  feel  one  is  needed)  for  so 
doing  is  the  world-wide  reputation  of  the  book, 
owing  chiefly  to  the  high  standing  of  its  author.  I 
will  be  very  brief,  and  as  little  offensive  as  possible. 

So  far  as  I  can  discover,  Raymond's  Heaven  is 
only  for  well-educated  persons  of  good  disposition; 
I  can  discover  no  "lower  classes."  He  lives  in  a 
real  street,  wears  real  clothes,  and  has  a  real  dog 
(scientists  may  cavil  at  the  word  "real");  and  yet 
can  pass  in  an  instant  from  Heaven  (wherever  it  may 
be)  and  stand  behind  .Sir  Oliver  Lodge's  chair  in  his 
house  at  Edgbaston. 

*  All  other  spirits,  as  well  as  the  Devil,  are  thus  excluded. 

t  This  concept  of  semi-human  cats,  dogs,  horses,  etc.,  as  ser- 
vants is  as  grotesque  as  it  is  uncanny.  "Manual  labour"  is 
also  very  funny. 

5—2 


68  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

"All  is  solid  (another  poser)  in  the  next  world. 
There  is  mud  (of  all  things)  in  Heaven,  and  there  are 
bricks — real  bricks.  The  houses  on  the  other  side 
are  built  of  these!  The  ground  is  solid,  and  if  you 
kneel  in  the  mud  you  soil  your  clothes"*  (p.  184!). 
"Something  chemical  rises  from  the  earth  (this 
Heaven,  then,  can't  be  far  off)  that  makes  solid 
trees  and  flowers."  Raymond  has  all  his  earthly 
occupations.  He  attends  lectures,  goes  to  church, 
where  there  are  real  pews,  and  where  (save  the 
mark!)  he  dozes — an  indication,  I  fear,  of  the  dull- 
ness of  celestial  discourses.  He  is  not  always 
in  uniform.  "  Fancy  me,"  he  says,  "  in  white  robes." 

The  Travesty  of  Heaven 

Raymond's  body  is  like  what  he  had  before.  In 
Heaven  the  blind  receive  their  sight,  and  cripples 
have  new  limbs.  "If,  however,  you  have  been 
blown  to  pieces,"  Raymond  says,  "it  takes  (natu- 
rally) some  time  to  form  the  spirit  body"  (see  p.  189). 
Cigars  (of  some  tobacco  substitute)  are  made  there; 
and  whisky  (of  some  sort)  can  be  procured!  (p.  195). 
"There  are  dogs,  cats  and  other  animals  there." 
"We  have  books,  but  are  not  too  serious."  "We 
dance,  cake-walk,  and  are  full  of  jokes!"  (p. 

2I3)- 

But  one  must  stop  quoting  this,  to  me,  somewhat 

*  For  what  reason  are  these  absurd  banalities  printed  ? 
They  serve  no  purpose  of  identification,  which  is  usually  their 
excuse !  The  whole  seems  a  cruel  attempt  to  bring  Sir  Oliver 
Lodge's  deserved  reputation  itself  down  into  the  mud ! 

t  These  references  are  to  Sir  Oliver  Lodge's  book  "Ray- 
mond." 


THE  SPIRITISTS'  OTHER  WORLD        69 

nauseous  and  revolting  twaddle.  I  know  I  shall  be 
decried,  for  such  words,  as  a  partisan,  as  a  wolf  in 
sheep's  clothing,  as  one  pretending  to  write  a  fair 
book  on  a  great  subject,  and  yet  descending  to  the 
coarsest  abuse,  etc.;  but  I  ask,  in  the  name  of 
decency  and  common  sense,  "What  am  I  to  say  ? 

"Raymond,"  Science  and  Religion 

Once  more  I  acknowledge  the  profound  self- 
sacrifice  of  the  great  scientist  in  publishing  such  a 
book;  but  can  I  believe  he  has  been  well  advised  in 
doing  so  ?  No,  a  thousand  times  no !  If  a  father  must 
listen  (with  infinite  pain)  to  a  "Feda"  (the  supposed 
spirit  of  a  little  ignorant  Indian  girl  speaking 
through  some  medium),  in  the  hope  of  catching 
the  loved  tones  of  a  dear  son,  at  any  rate  let  the 
privacy  of  the  whole  subject  be  respected,  and  the 
veil  closely  drawn  over  such  extraordinary  revela- 
tions. Surely  any  scientist  must  know  that  no 
respectable  "science"  can  be  benefited  by  the 
publication  of  such  absurd  utterances ! 

If  any  wish  to  take  the  one  step  that  is  said 
to  cover  the  distance  from  the  sublime  to  the  ridi- 
culous, let  them  first  peruse  the  fifteenth  chapter  of 
St.  Paul's  first  letter  to  the  Corinthians  and  then  a 
chapter  of  "Raymond." 

I  think,  brief  and  discursive  as  I  have  been,  I  have 
shown  the  highest  and  the  lowest  (Spiritist)  ideas  of 
the  other  world;  but  I  feel  I  should  add  that  the 
lofty  views  of  "Julia,"  so  far  as  I  can  find,  are 
endorsed  by  no  other  Spiritist  whatever,  the  future 
world  developed  by  the  rank  and  file  of  Spiritists 
being  clearly  Theosophic. 


70  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

The  Weakest  Point 

And  now  to  sum  up  very  briefly  the  situation  so 
far  as  we  have  got.  The  evidence  of  Spiritism  con- 
cerning another  world  is  its  weakest  point.  If  we 
deduct  from  its  utterances  all  that  is  clearly  a 
repetition  of  Theosophic  imaginations,  we  have 
actually  nothing  coherent  left.  There  is  a  mass,  of 
which  I  have  given  a  fair  sample,  of  detached  and 
contradictory  statements  presenting  no  mental 
picture  of  anything.  It  is  certainly  incredible,  if 
there  be  any  communications  from  the  dead,  that 
none  of  whose  whole  earthly  lives  were  spent  on  this 
very  problem,  and  who  specially  arranged  when  they 
"passed  over"  to  give  full  revelations — such  as 
Myers,  Hodgson,  Professor  James,  and  others — 
should  say  anything  but  what  is  certainly  more  like 
the  outcome  of  the  medium's  mind  than  of  their 
own. 

No  Messages  from  the  Dead 

After  fifty  years  of  these  revelations  nothing  is 
revealed;  our  thirst  for  such  knowledge  remains 
absolutely  unquenched.  Modern  Spiritism  set  out 
with  high  hopes  and  promises,  which,  so  far,  have  not 
been  realised.  Respecting  the  mere  fact  of  other 
intelligences  and  powers  than  our  own,  I  should  say 
it  has  been  established;  but  that  these  are  the 
spirits  of  the  departed  dead  seems  negatived  by  the 
character  of  their  utterances. 

Mr.  Birrell,  at  Bristol,  said:  "The  records  of 
Spiritism  leave  me  unconvinced.  They  lack  the 
things  of  morality,  of  grandeur,  of  emotion;  in  a 
word,  of  religion.  They  deal  with  petty  things,  mere 


THE  SPIRITISTS'  OTHER  WORLD        71 

prolonged  egoism,  as  if  the.  one  thing  we  want  to 
be  assured  of  is  continued  existence,  and  an  endless 
capacity  to  exchange  platitudes.  A  revelation  of 
the  life  beyond  the  grave  ought  surely,  if  it  is  to  do 
any  good  in  the  world,  to  be  more  stupendous  than 
that — something  of  really  first-class  importance. 
Otherwise  we  are  just  as  well  without  it." 

When  we  consider  the  enormous  benefit  supposed 
to  be  conferred  on  our  race  by  the  establishing  of  the 
mere  fact  of  a  spirit  world  to  those  who  believe  the 
truth  of  Spiritist  statements,  we  must  not  forget 
that,  if  these  members  of  our  race  had  thought  the 
word  of  the  Lord  Himself  as  worthy  of  belief  as  that 
of  Spiritists,  they  would  have  required  no  further 
evidence.  Those  who  believe  the  Bible,  indeed,  know 
far  more  of  the  other  world  than  ever  Raymond  or 
Myers  have  revealed  in  their  utterances. 

Any  further  explanations  of  the  real  source  of  the 
messages  recorded  here  will  be  found  in  the  next 
two  chapters. 


CHAPTER  V 

EXPLANATIONS   OF   SPIRITIST   PHENOMENA 
Money  and  Fraud 

SPIRITIST  "truths"  seem  to  differ  from  all  others 
in  requiring  a  special  atmosphere,  a  special  attitude, 
special  apparatus,  and  special  preparation  to  demon- 
strate them.  Even  when  all  has  been  carefully 
arranged  no  truth  may  be  demonstrated,  and  nothing 
whatever  may  happen  at  the  seance.  And  then 
comes  the  almost  irresistible  opening  for  fraud  and 
trickery.  For  here  are  some  sixty  people  or  more 
waiting  to  see  something  for  which  they  have  paid, 
and  the  mysterious  power  is  absent  to-day.  One 
of  two  things  must  be  done.  A  reason  must  be 
found  for  the  failure — the  presence  of  even  one 
sceptic  will  do  nicely — but  then  the  money  should  be 
returned;  or  fraudulent  phenomena  (very  easy  to 
produce)  must  be  shown,  when,  of  course,  the  money 
is  safe.  Some  mediums  will  adopt  one  course,  and 
some  the  other.  All  one  can  say  is  that  in  public 
seances — in  America  more  than  in  Europe — some 
sort  of  fraud  is  the  rule,  and  not  the  exception;  and 
so  also  in  all  private  stances  where  money  is  paid. 
Where  it  is  not  paid,  fraud  is  rarer,  but  not 
unknown. 


EXPLANATIONS  OF  PHENOMENA          73 

The  "Electric  Fluid" 

The  seance  is  probably  opened  with  prayer  and 
always  continued  with  hymns,  more  or  less  flavoured 
with  negroes  and  revivals  (seldom  including  those 
of  the  class  of  "Ancient  and  Modern").  These 
are  supposed  to  produce  a  good  atmosphere  of  an 
elevated  character  and  to  invoke  good  spirits.  The 
general  experience,  however,  is  that  all  this  soon  de- 
generates to  folly  or  evil.  Folly  seems  as  inseparable 
from  a  Spiritist  seance  as  fraud;  and  both  are  most 
objectionable.  Hands  are  then  joined  and  under 
no  circumstances  may  they  be  unclasped  for  one 
moment,  as  the  "electrical  fluid"  that  helps  to 
materialise  the  spirit  form  absolutely  depends  on  an 
unbroken  ring.  All  this  is  solemnly  impressed  upon 
the  audience.  A  humble  member,  however,  once 
(not  the  only  occasion)  loosed  one  of  her  hands,  and 
so  broke  the  current  of  "electrical  fluid;"  but  all 
went  on  just  the  same  without  a  hitch!* 

Seeing  is  Believing 

It  is  doubtful  whether  any  who  have  not  actually 
seen  the  phenomena  can  believe  in  their  reality,  for 
our  reason  is  decidedly  against  the  possibility  of  their 
occurrence.  They  are  only  established  on  the 
evidence  of  one's  own  sense  at  first  hand,  and  in 
spite  of  all  logic.  Nothing  but  direct  unmistakable 
evidence  can  convince;  in  short,  one  must  be  an 
eye-witness.  If  one  may  allude  to  it  in  such  doubt- 
ful connection,  it  was  only  in  this  way  the  actual 
resurrection  of  our  Lord  was  established,  and  the 

*  There  is,  however,  much  psychological  force  in  these  hymns 
and  joined  hands,  which  I  will  speak  of  in  Chapter  IX. 


74  .    MODERN  SPIRITISM 

attitude  of  those  who  only  hear  of  these  marvels  is 
very  like  that  taken  by  St.  Thomas  of  old:  "Except 
I  see,  I  will  not  believe."  The  failure  of  many  scien- 
tists who  have  sought  to  investigate  the  subject, 
and  who  have  failed  to  witness  any  phenomena, 
is  probably  due,  not  to  any  particular  fault,  or 
lack  of  earnest  preparation  on  the  part  of  the  medium, 
but  to  a  want  of  knowledge  of  the  laws  (as  yet  un- 
known) that  produce  such  phenomena. 

The  Docile  Audience 

Generally  the  audience  is  in  a  most  receptive  and 
accommodating  mood.  They  have  been  carefully 
instructed  before  that  it  is  only  in  this  condition  that 
they  can  expect  to  see  that  for  which  they  have  paid 
their  money;  and  if  they  indulge  a  critical  or  scep- 
tical spirit,  they  need  not  be  surprised  if  they  go 
empty  away. 

Dr.  Lappius,  in  "Hypnotism  and  Spiritism," 
says:  "Another  simple  fact  is  the  facility  with 
which  the  spirits  seem  to  adapt  themselves 
to  the  tastes,  prejudices,  and  beliefs  of  their 
clients.'' 

On  the  other  hand,  it  must  be  conceded  that  most 
sitters  find  it  easiest  to  attribute  anything  they  may 
see  or  hear,  to  that  which  is  in  accordance  with  the 
Spiritist  doctrine  at  the  seance. 

Dobson  has  shown  that  this  doctrine  practically 
depends  on  three  hypotheses:  (i)  There  is  a  spirit 
world.  (2)  Departed  souls  can  be  spoken  to. 
(3)  The  medium  is  a  necessary  link  between  the 
two  worlds. 


EXPLANATIONS  OF  PHENOMENA        75 

Psychology  of  Mediums 

This  brings  us  again  to  these  extraordinary  beings, 
for  there  is  no  doubt  they  are  out  of  the  ordinary. 
Any  one  cannot  be  a  medium,  but  a  great  many  more 
could  be  if  they  were  aware  of  the  power  they  possess. 
A  well-known  Christian  doctor  discovered  one  of  his 
servant-maids  had  these  powers  to  an  extraordinary 
degree;  and  eventually  she  turned  his  house  upside 
down  with  physical  phenomena.* 

We  do  not  know  exactly  what  is  the  peculiar 
psychic  condition  of  a  medium.  It  appears  to  be, 
so  far  as  I  can  judge,  some  state  akin  to  auto-hypno- 
tism, or,  to  use  inexact,  old-fashioned  language, 
"  self- mesmerism, "  during  which  the  unconscious 
mind,  usually  buried  in  the  deepest  obscurity  "below 
the  threshold,"  is  brought  into  prominence  and 
dominance,  while  the  conscious  mind  is  in  abey- 
ance and  not  used,  as  in  hypnorism.  With  most 
mediums  this  results  in  an  apparent  "trance"  con- 
dition of  unconsciousness,  but  others  do  not  appear 
to  be  wholly  asleep  or  unconscious  (as  in  modern 
hypnotism),  but.  reach  the  same  condition.  There 
is  a  great  tendency  for  professional  hypnotic  subjects 
to  become  mediums. 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  those  who  alone, 
in  their  rooms,  get  direct  writing  or  raps  are  them- 
selves mediums,  though  at  first  they  may  not  have 
known  their  powers. 

The  medium  is  always  exhausted  by  her  efforts, 
sometimes  to  a  dangerous  extent.  As  I  have  said 
elsewhere,  the  power  is  seldom  lifelong;  in  Stainton 

*  See  p.  39. 


76  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

Moses  it  extended  over  eleven  years.     It  may  go 
suddenly  or  gradually. 

I  have  also  pointed  out  that  the  term  "medium" 
is  objectionable,  as  it  assumes  the  very  point  which 
has  to  be  proved. 

No  Test  Conditions 

Important  seances  are  very  different  to-day  from 
what  they  were  some  years  ago.  They  are  now 
conducted  under  the  most  rigid  test  conditions,  and 
fraud  is  difficult. 

But  in  every  experiment  before  Sir.  Wm.  Crookes, 
D.  D.  Home  dictated  the  whole  conditions  of  the 
seance;  and  Stainton  Moses,  to  mention  the  two 
who  were  by  far  the  most  celebrated  and  most 
reliable  mediums  forty  years  ago  and  have  never 
been  equalled  since,  also  worked  in  complete  dark- 
ness, unbound,  without  tests  or  precautions  of  any 
kind,  and  in  the  midst  of  a  circle  of  confiding  friends; 
and  the  phenomena  were  generally  reported  by 
himself.* 

No  doubt  conjuring  could  explain  some  of  the 
lesser  physical  phenomena,  but  not  all.  It  must  ever 
be  remembered  that  a  medium,  unlike  a  conjurer, 
if  she  finds  the  conditions  too  hard,  can  remain 
passive  and  produce  nothing,  without  any  discredit. 

Eusapia  Palladino 

Mrs.  Piper  and  Eusapia  Palladino  were  the  two 
most  celebrated  and  trustworthy  mediums  during 
the  last  thirty  years.  A  committee  ot  the  S.P.R. 
went  to  Italy  to  test  Eusapia,  and  reported  well  of 

*  F.  Podmore,  "The  Newer  Spiritism,"  p.  149. 


EXPLANATIONS  OF  PHENOMENA        77 

her,  but  Mr.  Frank  Podmore  was  not  satisfied  with 
the  ordinary  physical  phenomena  he  witnessed. 

One  day  Eusapia  had  Sir  Oliver  Lodge,  F.  W.  H. 
Myers,  and  Ochovowicz  as  audience,  and,  during 
some  raps,  was  discovered  making  them  herself  by 
striking  her  boot  on  the  floor;  and  yet  she  seemed 
quite  unconscious  of  the  fact.*  But,  on  Decem- 
ber i8th,  1911,  a  young  man  hid  himself  in  Eusapia's 
cabinet,  and  suddenly  grasped  her  left  foot,  which  at 
that  moment  (so  far  as  he  knew)  was  pressing  hard 
on  Professor  Munsterberg's  boot.  She  was  also 
convicted  of  fraud  at  other  times. 

There  are  further  details  about  mediums  which 
tend  to  show  that,  however  true  their  motives, 
however  good  their  object,  the  fact  of  laying  their 
minds  voluntarily  open  to  spirit  influences  in  this 
way  is  fraught  with  danger,  not  only  mental  and 
moral,  but  also  actually  physical.  There  are  also 
terrible  stories  about  mediums,  all  of  which  cannot 
be  doubted,  respecting  these  latter  risks. 

Sir  Wm.  Barrett,  alluding  to  the  above,  says: 
"Granting  the  existence  of  the  spirit  world,  it  is 
necessary  to  be  on  one's  guard  against  the  invasion 
of  our  will  (when  so  surrendered)  by  a  lower  order  of 
intelligence  and  morality." 

Scientific  Tests 

There  can  be  no  doubt,  turning  to  proved  pheno- 
mena, that  the  man  who  denies  them  is  not  entitled 
to  be  called  a  scientist;  he  is  simply  ignorant. 
There  are,  however,  in  the  scientific  world  still  a 

*  Practically  it  is  most  difficult  to  prove  how  far  conscious 
fraud  extends;  there  is  such  a  mixture. 


78  MODERN  SPIRITISM      i  , 

large  class  of  robust,  though  not  very  acute,  intellects 
who  in  former  days  long  affirmed  that  hypnotism, 
telepathy,  wireless  telegraphy,  etc.,  were 'all  un- 
scientific and  unproved  balderdash.  Now  they  say 
the  same  respecting  the  proved  facts  of  Spiritism.* 
Not  that  any  of  these  proofs  reach  the  standard  of 
what  Sir  Wm.  Crookes  indicated  was  the  only  way 
in  which  supernatural  powers  could  be  proved.  As 
a  scientific  observer,  he  asks  that  some  additional 
weight  be  deposited  in  one  pan  of  his  balance  when 
the  case  is  locked;  as  a  chemist,  he  asks  for  one- 
thousandth  part  of  a  grain  of  arsenic  to  be  placed  in 
a  hermetically  sealed  glass  tube  of  distilled  water. 
No  such  proofs  of  supernatural  power  have  been 
given  anywhere  during  the  last  100  years. 

Proved  Facts 

Nevertheless,  in  Professor  Bottazzi's  physiological 
laboratory,  at  Naples,  when  the  doors  were-  pad- 
locked and  sealed,  the  Professor  has  seen  various 
human  limbs  appear,  hands  in  great  activity  which 
worked  apparatus,  and  all  sorts  of  clothing  apparently 
produced  out  of  nothing.  A  professor  of  astronomy 
observes,  with  regard  to  spirit  phenomena,  that  the 
facts  must  either  be  admitted  as  proved,  or  the 
possibility  of  certifying  any  facts  by  human  tests 
must  be  given  up. 

Sir  Wm.  Barrett  ("On  the  Threshold  of  the 
Unseen,"  p.  98)  says:  "Of  the  real  objective  exist- 

*  Helmholtz  said  to  Sir  Wm.  Barrett  that  neither  the  evidence 
of  all  the  members  of  the  Royal  Society  nor  of  his  own  senses 
wo.uld  e.ver  make  him  believe  in  thought-transference;  yet  this 
is  now  proved  and  generally  accepted. 


EXPLANATIONS  OF  PHENOMENA        79 

cnce  of  most  of  these  supernormal  phenomena,  the 
evidence  appears  to  me  to  be  overwhelming." 

Professor  Henry  Sidgwick  says:  "It  is  a  scandal 
that  any  dispute  as  to  the  reality  of  any  of  the 
marvellous  phenomena  of  Spiritism  should  still  be 
going  on." 

Investigation 

The  three  who  investigated  Eusapia's  wonderful 
physical  phenomena  at  Naples  were  Mr.  Baggally, 
a  most  expert  professional  conjurer,  who  after  thirty- 
five  years  had  never  seen  one  genuine  physical 
phenomenon;  Mr.  Feilden,  Secretary  of  the  S.P.R., 
who  for  ten  years  had  never  seen  one  genuine  physi- 
cal phenomenon;  and  Mr.  H.  Carrington,  who 
for  twelve  years  had  exposed  all  Spiritist  frauds  in 
the  U.S.A.,  and  had  also  never  seen  one  genuine 
phenomenon  in  their  seances!  In  December,  1908, 
these  three  clever  sceptics  had  eleven  sittings  with 
Eusapia,  and  were  absolutely  convinced  of  the 
genuineness  of  the  physical  phenomena  shown. 

Sir  Wm.  Crookes  (quoted  by  R.  J.  Thompson, 
in  "Proofs  of  Life  after  Death,"  p.  73)  says:  "That 
certain  physical  phenomena,  such  as  the  move- 
ment of  material  substances,  and  the  production 
of  sounds  resembling  electric  discharges  (raps) , 
occur  under  circumstances  in  which  they  cannot  be 
explained  by  any  physical  laws  at  present  known, 
is  a  fact  of  which  I  am  as  certain  as  I  am  of  the  most 
elementary  fact  of  chemistry.  My  whole  scientific 
education  has  been  one  long  lesson  in  exactness  of 
observation;  and  I  wish  it  to  be  distinctly  under- 
stood that  this  firm  conviction  is  the  result  of  most 
careful  investigations . ' ' 


8o  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

Established  Phenomena 

Sir  William  Crookes  regards  the  following  as 
proved  certainties: — 

1.  Heavy   bodies   are  'moved  without   contact.     The 
force,  which  is  very  great,  seems  to  be  directed  by 
spirit  intelligence. 

2.  Sounds   produced  without  visible  agency.     These 
are  very  common  and  significant. 

3.  Heavy  bodies  move  to  order,  in  any  way,  without 
contact. 

4.  Levitation    of    articles    (of    furniture)    without 
contact. 

5.  Levitation  of  human  beings.     He  has  seen  a  lady 
sitting  on  a  chair  raised  eight  inches  off  the  ground.  * 

6.  (Rapid)    movements   of  small   articles    (such   as 
small   musical   instruments,    toys,    flowers,    ribbons, 
letters,  etc.,  which  fly  through  the  air  in  all  directions). 

7.  Alteration  in  weight.     Sir  William  Crookes  has 
seen  articles  placed  on  the  weighing  machine  appa- 
rently increase  in  weight  from  8  to  43,  46,  and  48  Ibs. 

8.  Luminous  appearances   (often  intensely  vivid). 

9.  The   appearance   of   human   hands    (and    other 
limbs,  often  very  active). 

10.  Direct  writing.     In  this  the  pencil  moves  and 
writes  of  its  own  accord,  no  one  being  within  a  foot 
of  the  table;  and  sometimes  the  bottom  sheet  of  a 
packet  of  notepaper  is  written  on  without  visible 
pencil,  f 

*  In  addition  to  others  recorded  in  Chapter  III. 

t  In  automatic  writing  the  fingers  twitch  and  itch,  and  you 
feel  you  must  put  pen  to  paper,  and  then  "it"  writes  in  a  firm, 
clear  hand,  entirely  independently  of  your  will.  You  never 


EXPLANATIONS  OF  PHENOMENA        81 

ii.  Phantom  forms  and  faces.  This  includes  all 
materialisations,  such  as  "Katie  King,"  whom  Sir 
William  Crookes  saw,  and  examined,  and  spoke  to, 
on  and  off,  for  three  years. 

Incontestable  Evidence 

Long  afterwards,  as  President  of  the  British  Asso- 
ciation in  1898,  Sir  William  said:  "Thirty  years 
ago  I  published  an  account  of  experiments  tending 
to  show  that,  outside  our  scientific  knowledge,  there 
exists  a  force'  exercised  by  intelligence  differing  from 
the  ordinary  intelligence  common  to  mortals." 

Sir  Oliver  Lodge  points  out,  in  this  connection, 
that  "an  affirmation  from  his  own  experience  by  the 
humblest  man  is  worth  listening  to;  whereas  the 
denial,  in  his  ignorance,  of  the  cleverest  is  not  worth 
a  moment's  attention." 

Another  scientist  says:  "A  large  proportion  of 
the  phenomena  are  genuine,  and  are  directed  by 
some  non-human  intelligence." 

M.  Maeterlinck  truly  says:  "Raps  and  marvels 
of  untouched  tables,  the  transportation  of  articles 
without  contact,  human  phenomena  and  materiali- 
sations, are  as  incontestable  as  polarisation  or 
crystallisation;  or  else  we  must  abandon  all  human 
certainty.  Levitation  seems  not  quite  so  certain. 
This  unknown  power  lifts  tables,  moves  the  heaviest 
articles,  produces  flowers  and  hair  (from  nowhere), 

know  when  the  impulse  may  come  (as  in  speaking  with  "ton- 
gues"). It  comes  suddenly  and  goes  suddenly  and  may  or 
may  not  be  accompanied  by  raps.  Dr.  Marcel  Violett  says, 
"When  the  medium  writes  it  is  mechanical  and  automatic,  not 
intellectual.  Another  personality  writes  and  may  speak  through 
the  medium."  This  is  of  great  importance. 

M.  s.  6 


82  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

plays  on  strings  and  notes,  passes  through  solid 
matter,  conjures  up  ghosts,  and  makes  lights — all  on 
one  condition,  'That  all  performances  must  be, 
without  rhyme  or  reason,  vain  and  puerile!'"* 

Some  Unknown  Force 

So  far,  then,  we  have  as  clear  proof  as  can  possibly 
be  afforded  of  some  force,  at  present  unknown  to  us, 
used  by  non-human  intelligences ;  but,  so  far  as  we 
can  see,  for  absolutely  silly  and  purposeless  follies. 
To  account  for  all  this,  the  old  "daemons,"  a  freakish 
race  of  spirits  (not  of  the  dead),  have  been  revived. 
These  were  once  everywhere  believed  in,  though  not 
revealed  to  us  definitely  in  the  Bible.  They  are 
supposed  to  be  intermediate  between  the  good  and 
fallen  angels,  inclining  to  evil,  however,  rather  than 
to  good.  The  only  suggestions  of  this  existence  are 
these,  and  other  purposeless  and  foolish  displays  of 
power  when  invoked.  Of  these  there  are,  of  course, 
other  explanations. 

Still,  the  more  we  investigate  these  phenomena, 
the  less,  in  one  sense,  we  seem  to  know. 

With  regard  to  spirit  photography,  while  it  cannot 
be  wholly  denied,  it  is  best  to  exclude  it  from  the 
above  category,  as  it  is  so  easy  to  imitate. 

We  may  emphasize  once  more  that  all  these 
physical  phenomena  have,  no  necessary  connection 
whatever  with  the  dead. 

Professor  Hyslop  insists  that  all  physical  pheno- 
mena must  be  excluded  at  once,  as  not  in  themselves 
in  any  respect  affording  evidence  of  the  actions  of 
departed  spirits. 

*  This  remark  seems  very  well  justified. 


EXPLANATIONS  OP  PHENOMENA        83 

Attempted  Explanations 

The  full  explanation  of  these  extraordinary 
physical  freaks  is  confessedly  impossible.  I  will, 
however,  produce  what  attempts  have  been  made 
to  do  so.  First  of  all,  undoubtedly,  stand  the 
psycho-dynamic  theory  of  Thomas  Jay  Hudson,  the 
American  scientist. 

Taking  the  medium's  powers  as  essentially  an 
activity  of  the  powers  of  the  unconscious  mind,  he 
says  these  are  three  in  number : — 

1.  Intuition,  or  instinct. 

2.  Telepathy. 

3.  Telekinesis,    or    the    power    io    move    physical 
objects  at  a  distance  by  mind  power  alone  without 
contact. 

It  is  this  third  that  constitutes  psycho-dynamics. 
Hudson,  therefore,  accounts  for  Spiritist  physical 
phenomena  by  the  unconscious  mind  of  the  medium 
possessing  physical  power  to  make  itself  felt  (and 
heard),  fco  move  ponderable  objects,  without  visible 
contact,  and  to  order. 

No  Proof  of  Psycho -Dynamics 

The  great  objection  to  this  admirable  theory, 
which  explains  everything  with  perfect  ease,  is  not 
only  that  there  is  no  proof  whatever  of  anything  at 
all  resembling  "telekinesis,"  apart  from  electricity 
of  some  sort,  but  that  the  very  concept  does  violence 
to  our  ideas  of  the  distinct  and  different  character 
of  force  in  the  spirit  and  in  the  material  worlds,  and 
seems  to  confuse  both.  We  must  note  that  our 
spirits  can  move  our  bodies  by  our  own  will  only 

6—2 


84  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

while  there  is  living  contact;  for,  even  if  a  limb  be 
still  attached  to  the  body,  if  living  contact  with  the 
brain  be  broken,  as  in  paralysis,  the  leg  or  arm  "will 
no  longer  respond  to  the  will.  There  is  no  ground 
for  believing  that  disembodied  spirits,  at  any  rate, 
can  move  any  object  whatever,  so  that  the  force  in 
physical  phenomena,  whatever  it  be,  does  not  come 
from  them. 

Sir  Wm.  Barrett  very  properly  remarks  that  he 
cannot  conceive  how  intelligence  can  act  on  matter. 

"Raymond,"  as  we  have  seen,  is  simpler  in  his 
explanation,  and  prefers  the  venerable  chestnut  that 
"all  the  circle  supply  'magnetism,'  which  is  gathered 
by  the  medium,  and  goes  into  the  table,  and  we 
manipulate  it"  (p.  144). 

After  all,  one  explanation  seems  almost  as  intelli- 
gible as  the  other ! 

Other  Unproved  Theories 

Materialisation  is  also  accounted  for  by  Professor 
Morselli  on  the  psycho-dynamic  theory,  which,  he 
says,  is  the  only  alternative  to  the  "spirits."  Others 
speak  mysteriously  of ' '  compressed ' '  and ' '  impressed ' ' 
ether,  and  declare  the  "astral  body"  is  nothing  else 
than  "condensed"  ether,  and  that  ether  can  produce 
materialisation  (and  a  heart  beating  at  7  5  ?) .  Of 
course,  the  very  existence  of  ether  has  still  to  be 
postulated,  being  not  yet  proved,  and  the  compression 
or  condensing  of  a  substance  1,000  times  denser  than 
steel  is  at  least  difficult  to  grasp. 

Rev.  A.  Chambers  has  a  theory  of  his  own:  "A 
spirit  materialises  from  £he  aura,  which  is  matter  in 
a  fluid  condition,  as  it  exhales  from  the  physical 


EXPLANATIONS  OF  PHENOMENA        85 

bodies"  (of  the  sitters?),  "and  consolidates  round 
the  spirit-self,  forming  a  temporary  physical  encase- 
ment" (with  legs  that  can  move,  and  a  voice  that 
can  speak?). 

Let  us  agree,  rather  than  commit  ourselves  to  any 
of  the  above  solutions,  in  the  statement  that  "we 
don't  know  how  it's  done." 

Personally,  I've  never  seen  a  conjurer  yet  where  I 
haven't  had  to  say  this;  so  it's  nothing  new,  I  suspect, 
to  most  of  us;  nor  is  it  even  very  surprising,  that 
we  have  yet  to  wait  for  the  full  solution  of  some 
undoubted  facts. 

Explanation  of  Psychic  Phenomena 

Leaving  these  perplexing  physical  phenomena 
alone  for  the  present,  we  will  proceed  to  consider  the 
alleged  communications  supposed  to  come  from 
another  world,  received  by  raps,  which  spell  out 
words,  or  by  writing  by  the  medium's  hand,  or 
wholly  independently  and  automatically,  and  by  slate 
writing. 

I  have  pointed  out  it  is  these  phenomena  alone 
that  constitute  any  evidence  of  another  world. 
Those  who  deny  another  world  in  loto  find  their  only 
explanation  of  psychic  phenomena  in  telepathy,  a 
very  recently  discovered  science,  but  one  which  is 
now  of  fair  respectability  in  the  scientific  world. 
According  to  Mr.  Frank  Podmore,  telepathy  is  the 
only  thing  in  Spiritist  phenomena  that  is  established 
as  a  scientific  fact  beyond  all  doubt.  Sir  Oliver  Lodge 
says:  "The  facts  of  telepathy  must  be  regarded  as 
practically  established  in  the  judgment  of  those  who 
have  studied  them." 


Telepathy 

To  account  fpr  the  marvels  of  mediums,  however, 
the  powers  of  this  telepathy  have  to  be  stretched  to 
their  utmost  possible  bounds,  and,  some  think,  beyond 
them.  I  will  explain  what  I  mean.  The  ordinary  and 
simplest  meaning  of  telepathy  is  the  transference  of 
conscious  thought  without  words;  but  this  by  no 
means  suffices  here,  for  the  medium  often  makes 
allusions  to  facts  unknown  (consciously)  to  any  of 
the  audience.  It  is,  therefore,  suggested,  not  with- 
out reason,  that  the  powers  of  telepathy  (here  really 
including  psychometry)  enable  the  medium,  not 
only  to  reproduce  the  thought  of  the  hearers,  but 
the  stores  of  memory  in  their  unconscious  minds,  in 
which  lie  buried  (as  has  been  scientifically  proved 
by  Dr.  Milne  Bramwell  and  others)  innumerable 
thoughts  and  facts  quite  out  of  consciousness.  Of 
course,  it  is  the  medium's  own  unconscious  mind  that 
has  this  power,  and,  therefore,  only  in  a  state  of 
trance  can  this  be  done.  Perhaps  a  few  words  from 
others  will  make  this  clearer. 

Powers  of  the  Unconscious  Mind 

F.  W.  H.  Myers  says:  "My  work  on  'Human 
Personality'  "  (two  big  volumes)  "is  in  large  measure 
a  critical  attack  upon  the  main  Spiritist  position; 
the  belief,  namely,  that  'all  or  almost  all  super- 
normal phenomena  are  due  to  the  action  of  the 
spirits  of  the  departed  dead.'  It  has  been  suggested 
that  in  every  case  the  supposed  spirit  'control'  is 
none  other  than  the  medium's  own  unconscious 
mind." 

In   Spiritist   telepathy,    then,    it  is  probably  the 


EXPLANATIONS  OF  PHENOMENA        87 

unconscious  mind  of  the  medium  that  reads  that 
of  the  inquirer,  where  all  is  buried.  The  "spirit," 
therefore,  that  mostly  "controls"  the  medium 
appears  to  be  her  own  unconscious  mind  (subliminal 
consciousness) ;  and  not  Feda,  Moonstone,  &c. 

Thomas  Jay  Hudson  plainly  says:  "No  facts 
not  known  by  telepathy  can  be  communicated  by 
mediums.  When  the  unconscious  mind  obtains  con- 
trolof  the  planchette,  it  writes  what  is  quite  unknown 
to  the  writer's  conscious  mind,  and  which  is,  therefore, 
attributed  to  the  dead;  for  by  far  the  larger  propor- 
tion, as  I  hold,  of  the  messages  are  due  to  the  activity 
of  the  still-embodied  spirit  of  the  medium." 

Cryptomnesia 

C.  E.  Hudson,  in  the  Nineteenth  Century  for  May, 
1919,  p.  906,  says:  "In  very  few  cases  can  subcon- 
scious telepathy  be  finally  ruled  out  as  a  possible 
explanation  of  the  automatic  writing." 

Facts  are  read  by  the  medium's  unconscious  mind 
which  are  buried  in  the  unconscious  memories  of  the 
hearers,  and  of  which  no  one  in  the  room  is  con- 
sciously aware.  Of  course,  this  assumes  the  fact  of 
cryptomnesia,  or  the  hidden  unconscious  memory.  * 

An  extraordinary  example  of  cryptomnesia  is 
recorded  by  Maeterlinck  in  "Our  Eternity."  Col. 
de  Rochas  can  hypnotise  exceptional  subjects  and 
make  them  re-enact  scenes  from  youth  up.  He 
took  Josephine,  a  girl  of  eighteen,  back  to  a  baby  at 
her  mother's  breast;  then  he  takes  her  back  before 
her  birth;  and  then  comes  the  voice  of  an  old  man, 

*  This  can  be  easily  demonstrated  by  closely  studying  a  page 
of  a  book  for  five  minutes  and  then  closing  it.  The  conscious 
mind  can  then  repeat  a  few  lines;  slight  hypnosis  brings  as 
much  again ;  and  deep  hypnosis  may  recall  the  whole  page. 


88  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

whose  name  is  Jean  Claude  Burdon.  He  is  bed- 
ridden. He  was  born  in  1812,  and  gives  his  life 
history,  and  dies  at  70;  and  it  is  the  dead  man 
speaking.  He  thinks  he  would  like  to  be  born 
again;  and  when  Josephine  is  born,  he  enters  the 
child's  body. 

Then  he,  in  turn,  is  taken  back  to  childhood, 
and  an  old  woman  appears,  whose  name  is  Philomena 
Carteron;  she  was  born  in  1702.  And  so  on  with 
several  others,  back  to  Louis  XIV.  'Other  hypnotists 
give  similar  stories;  but  it  is  quite  possible  that 
Col.  de  Rochas  and  others  have  been  hoaxed. 

Telepathy  in  the  Next  World 

It  is  generally  assumed  that  telepathy  or  thought 
transference  largely  replaces  conversation  in  the  next 
world.  It  is  also  the  means  by  which  spirit  messages 
are  received;  for  it  is  not  by  actual  speech,  but  by 
thought  transference,  that  the  " spirits"  communi- 
cate their  information. 

Kant  records  the  discovery  by  Swedenborg  of  a 
lost  receipt  in  a  secret  drawer  by  direction  of  a 
deceased  husband.  This  is  supposed  to  be  due  to 
"deferred  telepathy."  (See  Sir  Oliver  Lodge, 
"Survival  of  Man,"  p.  120.) 

Dr.  Osty  (see  Maeterlinck)  had  all  the  leading 
events  of  his  life  for  three  years  told  to  him — as 
we  now  know — by  telepathy.  The  forty  volumes  of 
these  experiments  of  the  S.P.R.  have  fully  established 
their  new  power  as  a  scientific  fact. 

Before  the  S.P.R.'s  investigations  clairvoyance, 
telepathy,  and  hypnotism  (when  not  frauds)  were 
all  thought  to  be  supernatural.  It  is  not  so  now. 


EXPLANATIONS  OF   PHENOMENA       89 

Telepathy  Does  Not  Account  for  All 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  Alfred  Russel  Wallace 
says:  "The  scientific  world  has  been  proved  to  have 
been  totally  wrong  in  its  denial  of  the  facts  of  psychic 
phenomena;  and  to  call  the  subjective  unconscious 
mind  the  sole  author  of  these  phenomena  is  as 
unscientific  as  attributing  them  to  spirit  agency." 
(And  yet,  surely,  these  are  our  only  alternatives.) 

Stainton  Moses  (1897)  supports  this:  "These  five 
years  the  messages  you  have  received  may,  as  you 
suggest,  have  been  due  solely  to  your  own  sub- 
consciousness.  Your  hand  may  have  been  moved 
(in  writing)  by  some  part  of  your  own  soul!  Well, 
be  it  so,  if  you  please."  Again,  another  scientist 
says:  "There  is  a  sufficient  basis  for  a  reasonable 
belief  in  the  existence  of  disembodied  minds.  There 
is,  however,  no  proof,  even  by  'cross-correspond- 
ence,' of  such  disembodied  minds;  but  they 
are  suggested,  though  not  conclusively,  because 
of  the  possibility  of  telepathy  from  living 
minds." 

One  of  the  "spirits"  says:  "You  need  not 
disturb  yourself  about  whether  it  all  comes  from  me, 
or  from  your  own  sub-conscious  self." 

Myers,  Hodgson,  James 

"There  are  many  cases,"  says  Myers,  "with 
Mrs.  Piper  that  cannot  be  explained  by  any  form 
of  telepathy,  unless  it  be  so  extended  as  to  be  as 
inconceivable  as  'spirit'  itself." 

Yet  another:  "The  other  theory,  that  the 
mediums  are  governed  by  the  unconscious  mind,  is 
impossible."  And  "To  attempt  to  account  by 


9o  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

telepathy   for   these   wonders   introduces    far   more 
difficulties  than  it  solves." 

Finally,  Dr.  R.  Hodgson  is  quite  clear  that  tele- 
pathy does  not  account  for  Spiritist  phenomena: 
Professor  William  James  has  also  been  convinced  of 
spirit  agency;  while  Professor  C.  Flammarion  says, 
on  the  other  hand:  "After  two  years'  investigation 
of  automatic  writing  I  came  to  the  positive  con- 
clusion that,  not  only  are  the  signs  not  those  of  a 
spirit,  but  that  the  intervention  of  another  mind 
from  the  spirit  world  is  not  proved;  the  fact  being, 
the  medium  is  more  or  less  consciously  the  author  of 
the  communications  by  some  cerebral  process  which 
yet  remains  to  be  investigated." 

No  Complete  Solution 

To  me  this  last  quotation  seems  a  very  reasonable 
utterance  and  a  possible  explanation  of  most,  but 
not  all,  psychical  phenomena.  And  yet  this  is  not 
really  an  explanation,  but  simply  the  substitution 
of  one  mystery  for  another,  which  accounts  for  the 
interest  the  phenomena  still  excite;  for  once  a 
fact,  however  extraordinary,  is  scientifically  and 
fully  explained,  it  ceases  to  interest,  e.g.,  wireless 
telegraphy. 

Sir  Wm.  Crookes'  reason  declared  that  the  pheno- 
mena he  saw  in  his  own  house,  in  bright  light,  and 
with  private  friends  only,  were  absolutely  impossible 
to  understand.  Neither  Hudson's  psycho-dynamics, 
Professor  Mayo's  extra-neural  theories,  nor  collective 
hypnotism  (of  which  more  anon),  nor  the  "ectenic 
force"  of  Count  de  Gasparin,  nor  Professor  Lom- 
broso's  "psychic  force,"  explain  the  phenomena. 


EXPLANATIONS  OF  PHENOMENA       91 

Professor  James,  though  his  reason  also  revolted  at 
what  he  saw,  yet  could  not  believe  that  the  whole 
host  of  phenomena  was  humbug. 

In  "Raymond"  all  can  be  accounted  for,  more 
or  less  scientifically  by  telepathy,  without  the  hypo- 
thesis of  necromancy,  with  the  one  exception  of  the 
photograph;  but  can  we  say  that  even  this  is  beyond 
any  future  possible  solution  ? 

Much  Beyond  our  Reason 

At  present,  we  grant,  there  is  no  real  explanation 
of  the  phenomenon. 

Against  the  proposed  solution  by  the  discovery  of 
some  unknown  force  we  would  urge,  no  such  marvels 
of  this  character  have  even  been  done  before;  and 
are  we  to  believe  that  an  ignorant  peasant  Italian 
woman,  convicted  of  fraud,  is  such  a  mistress  of  an 
unknown  power  as  to  produce  at  will  arms,  hands, 
and  feet  of  flesh,  lights,  and  solid  bodies  of  all 
sorts  ? 

Once  more,  though  we  do  not  know  the  solution  of 
all  this,  neither  do  we  know  how  a  fakir,  at  will,  can 
weigh  down  150  Ibs.  with  a  single  feather  placed 
in  the  other  balance.  Indian  jugglers  can  produce 
phenomena  absolutely  beyond  our  reason;  and 
which  of  us,  even  in  England,  have  not  seen  wholly 
inexplicable  phenomena  produced  by  conjurers  within 
one  yard  of  our  noses  ? 

There  remains,  no  doubt,  the  solution  by  the 
theory  of  another  world  peopled  by  evil  spirits  of  all 
descriptions,  as  well  as  by  good.  Of  course,  to  a 
true  believer,  this  is  no  theory,  but  a  solid  fact, 
seeing  that  fortunately  he  is  able  to  believe  in  the 
truthfulness  of  our  Lord. 


92 

Maeterlinck's  Conclusion 

Respecting  any  solution  Maeterlinck  says:  "If 
you  refuse  to  admit  the  agency  of  spirits,  the 
(physical)  phenomena  are  inexplicable. 

"Agreed,  nor  do  we  pretend  they  are  not;  for 
hardly  anything  is  to  be  explained  (fully)  upon  this 
earth.  We  are  content  simply  to  ascribe  these  to 
the  incomprehensible  powers  of  the  medium. 

"These  singular  faculties  are  baffling  only  because 
they  are  still  sporadic.  They  are  really  no  more 
marvellous  than  those  we  use  daily  without  mar- 
velling at  them:  our  memory,  our  understanding, 
our  imagination,  and  so  forth.  They  form  part  of 
the  great  miracle  that  we  are;  and,  having  once 
admitted  this  miracle,  we  should  be  surprised,  not 
so  much  at  its  extent,  as  at  its  limits. 

"Nevertheless,  I  am  not  at  all  of  opinion  that  we 
must  definitely  reject  the  spirit  theory.  Every- 
thing remains  in  suspense.  Things  are  little  removed 
(yet)  from  the  point  marked  by  Sir  Wm.  Crookes 
when  he  said,  nearly  fifty  years  ago  (1874),  in  the 
Quarterly  Journal  of  Science:  'There  is  no  proof 
whatever  of  the  agency  of  the  spirits  of  the  dead, 
though  the  Spiritists  hold  it  as  a  faith,  not  demanding 
further  proof,  that  the  spirits  of  the  dead  are  the  sole 
agents  in  the  production  of  all  the  phenomena.' 

"Nevertheless,  it  is  saying  a  good  deal  that  recent 
scientific  investigations  have  not  utterly  shattered 
the  theory.  But,  I  repeat,  it  is  most  simple  to 
attribute  these  absurdities  to  telepathic  communica- 
tions." 

"To  whatever  power  these  phenomena  are  due," 
continues  Maeterlinck,  with  justifiable  sarcasm,  "it 


EXPLANATIONS  OF  PHENOMENA          93 

is  quite  clear  it  dislikes  to  make  itself  useful.  It 
readily  performs  feats  of  sleight-of-hand,  provided 
we  can  derive  no  profit  from  them.  It  always  acts, 
as  it  were,  by  accident,  without  (apparent)  reason, 
method,  or  object,  in  a  deceitful,  illogical,  and 
preposterous  fashion." 

Messages  Come  from  Spirits 

F.  W.  H.  Myers,  Sir  Wm.  Crookes,  Sir  Oliver  Lodge, 
Sir  Wm.  Barrett,  Dr.  R.  Hodgson,  Dr.  A.  R.  Wallace, 
Professor  W.  James,  Sir  A.  Conan  Doyle,  indeed, 
one  might  say  all  Modern  Spiritists,  are  agreed 
that  communications  from  spirits  do  at  times 
occur.* 

Of  course,  it  is  said  that  we  believe  what  we  desire 
—spirits  or  telepathy;  nevertheless,  it  is  in  harmony 
with  all  that  Christians  know  and  believe  that  there 
is  an  unseen  world,  and  beings  with  powers  trans- 
cending our  own. 

The  President  of  the  S.P.R.  asked,  in  1910,  "Are 
we  entitled  to  say  that  Myers,  being  dead,  yet 
speaketh?  Personally,  I  am  not  convinced." 

Professor  Hyslop,  after  the  most  exhaustive  study, 
adopts  for  the  present  the  theory  of  spirit  com- 
munication as  the  only  sane  and  reasonable  solution 
of  some  of  the  phenomena. 

Professor  Lombroso,  in  February,  1907,  writes: 
"Spiritist  phenomena  are  attributable  to  the. agency 
of  extra-terrestrial  existences." 

*  To  the  Spiritist  this  proves  "necromancy,"  for  to  him  there 
are  no  spirits  but  those  of  the  dead;  to  the  Christian  there  are 
many  others. 


94  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

Are  They  Daemons? 

Sir  Wm.  Barrett  attributes  the  phenomena  to 
human-like,  but  not  human,  intelligences.  They 
may  be  good  or  bad  daemons,  but  they  afford  no 
proofs  of  any  human  existence  after  death.  He 
considers  the  only  explanation  of  what  he  has 
witnessed  is  the  spirit  hypothesis.  His  words  are: 
"Neither  hallucination,  imperfect  or  mal-observation, 
nor  misdescription  can  account  for  the  phenomena, 
and  the  simplest  explanation  is  the  spirit  hypothesis." 

Of  these  spirits  Cardinal  Newman  writes:  "Also 
between  the  hosts  of  evil  spirits  I  considered  there 
was  a  middle  race,  'daimonia'  (daemons),  partially 
fallen,  capricious,  wayward,  noble  or  crafty,  bene- 
volent or  malicious,  as  the  case  might  be." 

Dr.  F.  van  Eder,  S.P.R.,  maintains  all  is  the  work 
of  spirits. 

After  reading  all  these  views,  which  I  would  fain 
were  more  coherent,  I  think  we  must  for  the  present 
leave  the  riddle  still  unsolved. 

Maeterlinck  Puzzled 

M.  Maeterlinck  is  enormously  puzzled  with  the 
tremendous  contrast  between  our  conscious  and 
unconscious  mind,  if  indeed  all  the  absurd  puerilities 
of  Spiritism  are  the  product  of  the  latter  and 
not  of  spirits.  He  asks  ("The  Unknown  Guest"): 
"But  how  can  we  explain  the  incredible  con- 
trast between  the  grandeur  and  calmness  of  this 
inner  life  and  the  puerile  and  grotesque  incon- 
gruities which  it  manifests  at  times?  Inside  us 
the  unconscious  mind  is  the  sovereign  judge,  the 
supreme  arbiter,  and  the  prophet.  In  external 


EXPLANATIONS  OF  PHENOMENA        95 

actions  (in  Spiritism)  it  becomes  somewhat  of  a 
mountebank.  In  one  part  of  the  world  (France) 
it  declares  spirits  undergo  reincarnation,  and  tells 
the  story  of  their  past  existence;  in  England,  on  the 
contrary,  it  generally  asserts  that  they  do  not  become 
reincarnate.  It  deludes  itself,  or  it  deludes  us. 
Why  does  it  do  so  ?  It  asks  for  nothing,  neither  for 
money,  nor  prayers,  nor  thoughts.  What  is  the  use 
of  these  puerile  pranks  ?  It  must  be  for  the  pleasure 
of  lying;  and  yet  I  cannot  believe  the  truth  is  as 
hideous  as  this.  So  far  no  conclusion  can  be  drawn. 
It  seems  a  fantastic  literary  exercise." 

It  must,  of  course,  be  remembered  that  the  world 
of  spirits,  as  revealed  in  the  Bible,  contains  not  only 
evil  spirits  of  various  orders,  but  those  that  are  good 
and  beneficent,  though  these  latter  are  not  much  in 
evidence  at  seances.  None  of  these,  however,  are  the 
spirits  of  the  dead. 

Sceptics 

We  have  not  so  far  spoken  of  absolute  sceptics  in 
Spiritism.  Sceptics,  who  have  inquired  into  it,  are 
not  a  numerous  body.  Faraday,  a  Christian 
Scientist,  found  in  Spiritism  nothing  worthy  of 
attention,  nor  any  force  or  information  of  the  least 
use  or  value  to  mankind.*  Dr.  A.  Eulenberg 
says:  "I  am  not  aware  of  a  single  argument  of 
any  importance"  (in  favour  of  Spiritism).  Robert 
Browning  was  the  only  distinguished  sceptic  at 

*  Far  different  is  the  verdict  of  others.  The  effect  of  Spirit- 
ism as  to  belief  in  another  world  on  an  equally  distinguished 
man  is  worth  noticing.  Alfred  Russel  Wallace  was  a  thorough 
sceptic  and  materialist,  till  the  facts  of  Spiritism  convinced  him 
of  the  spirit  universe. 


96  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

D.  D.  Home's  seances,  whom  he  immortalised  as 
"Sludge  the  Medium,"  a  poem  that  might  be  read 
with  some  advantage  by  my  readers.* 

I  don't  know  that  I  have  yet  stated  that  Sir  Wm. 
Crookes  began  his  inquiry  into  the  phenomena  of 
Spiritism  believing  the  whole  affair  was  a  mass  of 
superstition  and  trickery;  and  yet,  in  spite  of  this 
tremendous  bias,  such  was  his  honesty  that  he  ended 
in  staking  his  scientific  reputation  by  stating  "that 
his  preconceived  idea  was  wrong,  and  that  a  class  of 
phenomena  wholly  new  to  science  did  really  exist." 

I  hope  my  readers  will  be  at  least  equally  honest, 
though  they  may  not  have  the  same  scientific 
reputation  at  stake. 

The  point  we  have  arrived  at  is,  I  trust,  clear. 
Spiritism  has  produced  physical  phenomena  that  at 
present  cannot  be  entirely  explained  by  any  known 
force. 

It  has  also  produced  psychical  phenomena  which 
are  undoubtedly  mostly  caused  by  the  medium 
employed. 

If  it  be  demonstrated  that  any  of  these  physical 
or  psychical  phenomena  are  due  to  "spirit"  agency, 
this  does  not  in  the  least  involve  the  action  of 
human  disembodied  spirits,  as  there  are  superhuman 
spirits  of  all  sorts  in  the  other  world. 

*  This  was  possibly  partly  written  to  discourage  his  wife,  who 
was  an  ardent  Spiritist. 


CHAPTER  VI 


Proof  by  Assertion 

As  we  have  seen,  the  principal  objects  of  Spiritism 
are:  (i)  to  establish  the  fact  of  another  world; 
(2)  to  prove  that  human  life  survives  after  death; 
and  that  (3)  the  dead  can,  and  do,  communicate 
with  us  (necromancy).  They  only  succeed  in 
absolutely  establishing  this  third  point  scientifically 
to  a  minority  even  among  their  own  members,  and 
to  none  outside.  This  success,  such  as  it  is,  is 
mostly  due  to  a  pure  assumption,  which  they  do  not 
even  attempt  to  prove.  The  assertion  is  that  if 
the  existence  of  spirits  in  another  world  can  be 
demonstrated,  these  are,  of  necessity,  the  spirits  of 
the  dead,  for  there  are  none  others.  In  support  of 
this  unwarranted  statement,  which  flatly  contradicts 
the  Bible,  and  does  away  at  once  with  the  whole 
world  of  superhuman  spirit  beings,  no  argument  is 
advanced,  no  evidence  is  given;  it  is  simply  asserted 
(after  the  justly  condemned  Hasckel  method). 

It  is  obvious  that  to  beg  the  question  at  issue  by 
a  baseless  assertion  ex  cathedra  is  a  short  and  easy 
way  of  "proving"  a  point.  The  value  of  such 
"proof,"  however,  is  more  than  doubtful. 


98  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

Error  as  to  Spirits 

"Spirit"  to  a  Spiritist,  but  to  no  one  else,  is,  there- 
fore, necessarily  synonymous  with  "discarnate 
spirit."  This  must  be  made  clear,  for  there  are  many, 
the  writer  included,  who  dissent  from  it;  and  who 
believe  that  some  of  the  Spiritist  phenomena  are  due 
to  spirit  action,  though  not  to  discarnate  spirits,  but 
to  those  in  which  all  Christians,  and  many  others  (as  I 
think)  rightly  believe.  When,  therefore,  others,  with 
myself,  agree  that  some  of  the  physical  phenomena 
may  be  due  to  the  superhuman  action  of  spirits,  that 
some  also  of  the  psychical  phenomena,  automatic 
writing,  etc.,  may  be  due  to  communications  from 
the  other  world,  we  never  refer  to  discarnate  spirits 
(•i.e.,  disembodied  spirits  of  men),  but  to  the  original 
denizens  of  the  spirit  world,  that  pervade  the  whole 
language  of  Scripture.  No  such  spirit-communica- 
tions have  to  us,  therefore,  any  necessary  con- 
nection with  necromancy. 

Indeed,  I  may  point  out  further,  that  there,  is 
some  important  evidence  on  this  head  as  to  the 
existence  of  other  than  discarnate  spirits  which  may 
not  be  disregarded,  for  it  is  far  too  well'  supported 
by  evidence.  As  I  shall  show  later  on,  we  cannot 
believe,  and  in  the  "we"  I  think  I  may  be  allowed 
to  include  all  Spiritists,  that  any  human  beings, 
however  depraved,  can  in  their  spirit-form  after 
death  descend  to  the  horrors  that  accompany  so 
many  cases  of  "possession,"  the  secrets  of  so  many 
stances,  or  the  dreadful  experiences  of  many 
Spiritists.  Surely  to  call  these  denizens  of  the  pit 
"discarnate  spirits"  is  not  to  honour  the  dead,  but 
to  dishonour  them,  and  to  reach  the  incredible. 


SPIRITISM  AND  THE  DEAD  99 

Humanity  may  descend  to  the  bestial;  but  not  to 
the  devilish,  without  actual  "possession.". 

It  will  be  understood  that  I  do  not  here  give  the 
views  of  individual  Spiritists  who  may  not  at  all 
agree  with  the  above.  I  think,  however,  it  fairly 
represents  the  general  Spiritist  doctrine,  and  the- 
belief  of  the  leaders.  Sir  Oliver  Lodge,  however, 
in  a  recent  article  does  speak  of  "many  grades  of 
development  in  the  other  world,  some  lower  than 
humanity." 

Is  Necromancy  Possible? 

Bearing  in  mind,  then,  the  general  drift  of  the 
above,  let  us  consider  the  views  for  and  against  the 
existence  of  the  possibility  and  practice  of  necro- 
mancy in  the  present  day.* 

Those  who  are  in  favour  of  it,  the  general  believers 
in  Spiritism,  are  a  very  numerous  band,f  but  I  think 
I  am  quite  right  in  saying  the  majority  of  actual 
Spiritists  cannot  say  the  fact  is  yet  absolutely 
proved. 

Even  Sir  Oliver  Lodge  says,  "I  am,  for  all  personal 
purposes,  convinced  of  the  persistence  of  human 
existence  beyond  bodily  death;  though  I  am  unable 
to  justify  that  belief  in  a  full  and  complete  manner."! 

F.  W.  H.  Myers  finds  that  Spiritists  have  proved: 

*  It  is  an  error  to  think  that  the  forbidding  of  a  practice 
necessarily  proves  its  possibility.  Such  is  not  the  case.  It  may 
be  forbidden,  not  because  of  its  possibility,  but  because  (as  in 
necromancy),  the  attempts  bring  humanity  'into  touch  with 
dangerous,  non-human  spirits,  intent  on  evil. 

f  I  allude  here  to  the  audiences  and  camp  followers  of  Spiritism, 
and  not  to  the  small  company  who  have  studied  the  subject. 

J  It  is,  I  suppose,  needless  to  repeat  that  the  humblest  be- 
lievers have  known  all  this  and  more  for  nearly  2,000  years. 

7—2 


ioo  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

(i)  Survival  after  death.  (2)  That  avenues  of  com- 
munication between  the  spirit  and  material  worlds 
exist.  (3)  That  in  the  spirit  world  some  memories 
and  affections  of  earth  persist. 

Allan  Kardec,  .founder  of  French  Spiritism,  firmly 
believed  in  communications  with  the  dead. 

Spiritists  Affirm  it  is 

Dr.  Hodgson,  the  American  representative  of 
Spiritism,  was  the  exposer  of  Madame  Blavatsky, 
and  a  keen  student  of  psychology  and  magic.  He 
had  Mrs.  Piper  under  his  sole  charge  for  twenty  years, 
and  tested  her  in  every  way,  as  a  clever  psychological 
detective  would,  and  believed  her  trustworthy. 
Professor  Hyslop  also  declared  her  wholly  trust- 
worthy. Since  Dr.  Hodgson's  death,  Professor 
Hyslop,  through  Mrs.  Piper,  is  satisfied  Dr.  Hodgson 
has  spoken  to  him  after  death.  Both  of  these  men 
were  materialists  and  agnostics,  and  were  brought 
by  Spiritism  to  believe  in  God  (not  in  Christianity) 
and  in  existence  after  death  in  a  spirit  world. 

In  addition  to  this,  I  may  repeat  that  current 
opinion  in  Spiritist  circles  among  the  rank  and  file 
isj  broadly,  that  the  communications  with  the  dead 
are  all  genuine  (which  they  certainly  are  not),  and 
that  they  are  quite  easy;  whereas  Spiritist  leaders 
well  know  that  nothing  is  more  difficult  than  to 
get  anything  authentic. 

In  a  typically  successful  stance,  with  a  very  good 
medium,  six  questions  were  asked,  the  anwers  to 
which  were  'known  (it  is  believed)  to  none  but  the 
d ;  and  five  were  answered. 


101 

Mediums  cannot  know  who  speaks 

May  I  here,  in  reference  to  Professor  Hyslop's 
statement  about  the  trustworthiness  of  Mrs.  Piper, 
explain  this  can  only  refer  to  her  trustworthiness 
with  regard  to  fraud,  for  a  medium  can  have  no 
knowledge  of  the  source  of  her  own  communications. 
Whether  they  are  derived  (i)  from  what  her  uncon- 
scious mind  reads  from  the  minds  of  others,  or 
(2)  whether  it  obtains  its  knowledge  from  a  dis- 
carnate  spirit,  or  (3)  whether  the  information  comes 
from  some  other  inhabitant  (not  human)  of  the  spirit 
world,  she  cannot  possibly  know.  So  that  her 
trustworthiness  has  no  bearing  whatever  on  the  great 
question;  nor  can  a  medium  be  called  in  evidence, 
save  to  testify  there  is  no  fraud.  This  is  important. 

No  doubt  other  distinguished  names,  such  as 
Alfred  Russel  Wallace  and  Sir  A.  Conan  Doyle,  could 
be  added  to  the  above  witnesses  to  belief  in  necro- 
mancy. 


Among  the  doubtful,  Professor  C.  Flammarion 
says:  "That  souls  survive  the  destruction  of  -the 
body  I  have  not  the  shadow  of  a  doubt.  But  that 
they  manifest  themselves  by  communications  in 
seances  we  have  no  absolute  proof." 

Some  messages  received  from  Professor  Hyslop 
(after  his  death),  through  Mrs.  Piper,  were  handed 
over  to  Professor  Wm.  James,  to  decide  whether  they 
were  from  subconscious  sources,  or  really  from 
Hyslop.  He  decided  that  the  messages  of  Hyslop 
did  not  furnish  any  decisive  proof  whatever  ,of  their 
authenticity.  Sir  Wm.  Barrett  advises  ..all  those 


IO2 

who  have  attained  the  assurance  of  life  after  death 
by  means  of  Spiritism  not  to  pursue  the  matter 
further;  but  rather  to  learn  more  of  the  spiritual 
world  and  spiritual  communion  from  the  Christian 
mystics. 

Professor  Richet,  a  Spiritist  leader,  referring  to 
this  question  says:  "I  am  not  yet  convinced." 

"Stainton  Moses  himself,"  says  Myers,  "believed 
the  messages  came  from  departed  spirits,  but  there 
is  great  doubt  whether  they  did." 

J.  G.  Raupert,  in  "The  Supreme  Problem,"  p.  117, 
says:  "No  advance  has  been  made  in  establishing 
spirit  identity  in  twenty-five  years  of  study." 

Light,  a  Spiritist  magazine,  said  (March  i3th, 
1909):  "The  hardest  thing  to  prove  from  the  other 
side  is  identity;  and  we  know  of  no  test  that  can 
determine  it." 

Professor  Newbolt  considers  that,  on  account  of 
inaccuracies  and  ignorance,  it  is  doubtful  that  the 
communications  are  from  the  spirits  of  the  dead. 

D.  D.  Home,  in  1855,  at  Keighley,  in  Yorkshire, 
said  (speaking  of  mediums):  "The  subconscious 
mentality  accounts  for  much."  Coming  from  the 
leading  medium  of  his  time  this  is  significant. 

Maeterlinck  and  Hodgson 

The  "Ear  of  Dionysius,"  a  most  complicated 
classical  inferential  message,  deciphered  by  the  Right 
Hon.  Gerald  Balfour,  is  not  very  satisfactory 
evidence  of  the  work  of  a  discarnate  spirit,  and  was 
not  accepted  in  Spiritist  circles  without  great 
opposition. 

Maeterlinck  observes  on  the  subject :"  Hodgson 


SPIRITISM  AND  THE  DEAD  103 

'came  back'  a  week  after  death.  After  long 
talks,  Professor  James  says  he  felt  'as  if  an  external 
will  was  probably  there;  but  could  not  say  it  was 
Hodgson's.'  That  William  James  should  hesitate 
to  recognise  his  lifelong  friend  is  most  remarkable, 
for  Hodgson's  first  desire  was  to  establish  his  own 
identity.  William  James  asked,  'What  have  you 
to  tell  us  about  the  other  .life?' 

"Hodgson  seemed  to  reply,  'It  is  not  a  vague 
phantasy,  but  is  reality.' 

'"Do  you  live  as  we  do  ?' 

•  "'Yes,  we  have  houses,  but  not  clothing.  No! 
that's  absurd.  Wait  a  moment.'  And  then  another 
spirit  says  'Hodgson  has  to  go  out  to  get  his 
breath  (!)'" 

"Must  we  then,"  says  Maeterlinck,  "decide  that 
it  is  thus  a  departed  spirit  speaks  to  us?  Not  so; 
the  power  may  all  reside  in  the  medium.  Our 
Unknown  Guest  or  Unconscious  Mind  simulates  the 
dead.  It  projects  sights  and  sounds,  gives  premoni- 
tions, and  establishes  psychometry. 

Further  Difficulties 

"In  Spiritism  there  is  no  fixed  doctrine  concerning 
a  future  life.  It  varies  with  the  country,  and  it 
attributes  to  various  spirits  the  communications  it 
makes  to  us.  The  inarticulate  language  of  the 
unconscious  mind  can  borrow  that  of  consciousness, 
and  takes  on  the  voice  of  whatever  we  believe  in." 

There  is  no  doubt,  as  a  rule,  that  the  unconscious 
mind  of  the  medium  believes  itself  to  be  the  voice 
and  spirit  of  the  deceased. 

That  the  presence  of  one  sceptic  can  paralyse  the 


io4  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

"departed  spirit"  becomes  very  explicable  if  the 
communications  come  from  the  unconscious  mind 
of  medium  and  audience.  It  is,  however,  incon- 
ceivable that  the  spirit  of  Napoleon,  or  Newton,  or 
other  great  men,  can  be  paralyzed  by  the  presence 
of  an  unbeliever  at  a  seance ! 

If  the  unconscious  mind  be  denied,  we  must  give 
up  spirit  agency  once  for  all,  for  in  a  trance  the  one 
depends  on  the  other  in  any  case. 

"The  mind  of  man  is  one,  but  is  dual  in  nature," 
conscious  and  unconscious  (or  objective  and  sub- 
jective, as  Hudson  calls  it).  The  unconscious  mind' 
is  constantly  controlled  by  suggested  thoughts,  and 
is  in  easy  telepathic  connection  with  both,  the  con- 
scious and  unconscious  minds  of  others. 

Difficulty  of  Identification 

Professor  H.  P.  Jacks,  LL.D.,  on  June  28th,  1917, 
in  his  Presidential  Address  to  the  S.P.R.,  raised  some 
important  points  with  regard  to  the  truth  of  com- 
munications from  one's  departed  friends.  He  pointed 
out  the  main  problem  of  Modern  Spiritism  is  the 
difficulty  of  identification.  He  also  says:  "To  prove 
identity  .  .  .  you  want  as  much  resemblance  as 
possible"  (to  the  one  you  knew).  "But  what 
greater  difference  .  .  .  could  be  conceived  than 
that  between  an  embodied  and  a  disembodied  being  ? 
No  two  beings  that  I  can  think  of  could  be  more 
unlike  one  another  than  myself  in  my  body  and 
myself  outside  my  body. 

"What  it  may  be  to  see  without  eyes,  to  speak 
without  a  tongue, ,  to  move  without  limbs,  I  find 
myself  wholly  unable  to  conceive.  The  difference 


SPIRITISM  AND  THE  DEAD  105 

is  so  great  that  I  cannot  recognise  myself  under  these 
conditions  as  the  same  person  I  now  am. 

"We  are  apt  to  thrust  this  difference  aside  by 
saying  that  the  true  self  of  a  man  consists  of  his 
moral  characteristics.  That  I  do  not  question  as  an 
abstract  proposition.  But  moral  characteristics  are 
elusive  and  difficult  to  define.  I  imagine  a  man 
would  have  some  difficulty  in  picking  out  his  wife  in 
a  crowd  ...  if  he  had  nothing  but  her  moral 
characteristics  to  go  by.  Speaking  for  myself,  I 
am  by  no  means  sure  what  my  moral  characteristics 
are.  I  would  much  rather  be  asked  for  my  weight 
or  my  height."  Professor  Jacks  also  notes  that 
"there  is  no  proof  whatever  in  Spiritism  that  the 
voice  comes  from  'the  other  side,'  or  from  spirits, 
or  that  these  are  disembodied.  They  may  come  from 
this  world,  and  other  sources  altogether." 

Some  Discrepancies 

Another  significant  point  he  notes  is  that  those 
who  communicate  always  retain  the  distinction  of  sex. 
"Must,"  Professor  Jacks  further  asks,  "they  always 
speak  in  the  language  of  the  present  day,  and  not 
that  of  the  age  they  lived  in ;  in  English  or  in  French  ? 
Moreover,  they  are  in  time,  not  eternity,  for  they 
speak  of  the  'future.'  They  are  constantly  getting 
tired"  (which,  however  intelligible  in  the  medium 
is  inexplicable  in  them).  "They  can  hear  and  see! 
We  are  led  to  conclude  these  are  human  beings,  but 
this  need  not  prove  they  are  the  dead.  You  cannot 
separate  the  individual  from  his  world;  and  these 
individuals  evidently  carry  their  world  with  them; 
for  it  is  ours!" 


io6  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

The  point  of  identity  is  a  most  difficult  one,  in  the 
light  of  experience.  A  moment's  consideration  of 
the  Titchborne  case  will  show  this.  Here  is  an 
impostor  recognized  as  her  son,  by  many  infallible 
signs,  by  his  own.mother.  A  fraud  who  passed  no  end 
of  tests,  and  narrowly  escaped  being  accepted  as 
genuine.  As  a  spirit  he  would  have,  undoubtedly, 
succeeded  in  proving  a  false  identity. 

Some  Absurdities 

Another  point  is,  that  communications  come  with 
equal  facility  from  (i)  the  genuine  dead,  whether 
they  died  yesterday  or  1,000  years  ago  (and  they  all 
talk  precisely  the  same  English);  (2)  from  the 
supposed  dead,  who  have  never  "passed  over,"  but 
are  still  alive  and  possibly  attending  the  seance; 
(3)  from  imaginary  dead,  who  have  never  existed  at 
all  (I  have  instances  of  long  and  touching  com- 
munications from  such  through  reputable  media). 
Moreover,  these  Spirits  are  pious  with  the  pious, 
loving  with  lovers,  business-like  with  business  men, 
gross  and  vulgar  with  the  wicked.  In  England  they 
are  sceptical  and  reasoning;  in  Germany  (ante- 
bellum) mystical;  in  France  frivolous  and  libertine; 
in  America  positive  and  dogmatic,  in  Italy  atheists 
and  pantheists;  in  Utah  Mormons,  teaching  that 
wilful  abortion  is  lawful;  in  Russia  orthodox  or 
nihilist;  in  Spain  freemasons  (see  "Spiritism  Un- 
veiled," Lanslots,  p.  107).  Such  vagaries  do  more 
to  destroy  faith  in  necromancy  than  any  so-called 
tests  establish  it. 

Andrew  Lang  (1911)  says  "I  don't  believe  in 
professional  mediums,  nor  that  Mrs.  Piper  com- 


SPIRITISM  AND  THE  DEAD  107 

municates  with  the  dead  as  she  professes  to  do." 
In  Mrs.  Piper's  case,  especially,  the  statements  all 
proceeding  from  the  "control,"  the  dead  Marseilles, 
Dr.  Phinuit,  are  as  full  and  accurate  about  the  living 
(whom  he  could  never  have  known)  as  about  the 
dead. 

Necromancy  a  Fallacy 

We  began  with  believers  and  their  affirmations; 
we  will  end  with  denials. 

Professor  Flournoy,  a  leader  in  psychology,  takes 
the  standpoint  that  beliefs  in  communications  with 
the  spirits  of  the  dead  is  a  fallacy,  but  that  the  facts 
are  real;  and  so  also  is  telepathy,  clairvoyance,  etc., 
though  not  yet  officially  recognised  by  science. 

In  Spiritism,  says  a  scientist,  no  absolute  message 
has  come  from  the  dead. 

M.  Maeterlinck,  in  "Our  Eternity,"  says:  "Why 
do  departed  spirits  come  back  with  empty  hands  and 
words?  Beyond  our  last  hour  (on  earth)  is  it  all 
bare,  and  shapeless,  and  dim?"  ("Only,"  we 
might  reply,  "to  unbelievers.  To  faith  all  is  far 
brighter  beyond  the  tomb  than  on  earth.  There  is 
no  vague  guessing  or  surmising.  The  language  is 
that  of  certainty:  'We  know  that  if  our  earthly 
house,  etc.'"). 

"If  it  be  so,"  continues  Maeterlinck,  "let  them 
cell  us  (but  they  don't)  of  what  use  is  it  to  die  if 
all  life's  trivialities  continue  ?  Can  we  only  remember 
that  we  had  a  great-uncle  called  Peter,  and  that  our 
cousin  Paul  had  varicose  veins  ?  They  tell  us  enough 
to  show  they  could  disclose  similar  details  about  the 
unknown  mysteries. 


io8  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

Cross-Correspondence 

"In,  cross-correspondence  (that  last  and  intricate 
attempt  to  prove  necromancy)  a  single  spirit 
manifests  itself  almost  simultaneously  through 
several  mediums  at  great  distances  from  each  other." 
Each  message  by  itself  is  usually  unintelligible 
(being  some  isolated  word,  or  half  a  sentence,  or  an 
obscure  reference  that  cannot  be  completed,  or 
deciphered  without  the  remainder). 

As  Sir  Oliver  Lodge  says,  "the  object  of  this 
complicated  effort  is  to  prove  that  there  is  some 
definite  intelligence  underlying  the  phenomena." 
(See  Sir  Oliver  Lodge,  "Survival  of  Man,"  p.  825). 
Maeterlinck  proceeds:  "It  is  very  strange  that  the 
'dead'  should  bring  to  us  nothing  but  a  kind  of 
ingenious  child's  puzzle. 

"The  smallest  astronomical  or  biological  revela- 
tion would  form  a  far  more  decisive  argument  than 
these  literary  reminiscences. 

Stainton  Moses  Fails 

"Why  do  they  speak  so  seldom  of  the  future? 
Even  with  Stainton  Moses  there  is  the  same  inability 
to  bring  us  the  veriest  particle  of  truth  of  which  no 
vestige  exists  on  this  earth. 

"This  medium,  however,  in  touch  with  Grocyn, 
a  friend  of  Erasmus  (of  whom  few  had  heard),  gave 
particulars  about  him  which  were  at  first  thought 
new,  but  which  have  since  been  discovered  in  quite 
accessible  books. 

"But  Stainton  Moses  had  never  read  these  books; 
here  then  is  a  mystery,  but  it  is  not  necessary  to 
have  recourse  to  the  dead  to  solve  it."  It  is  not  the 


SPIRITISM  AND  THE  DEAD  109 

dead,"   Maeterlinck   adds,    "who   speak  and  act  in 
Spiritist  seances." 

It  is  obviously  quite  too  soon  to  give  a  fixed 
judgment  as  to  the  real  source  of  the  medium's 
communications.  It  is  certainly  unknown  to  herself, 
when  no  fraud  exists;  and  in  such  cases,  the  audience 
and  medium  alike,  all  act  in  good  faith. 

The  Three  Alternatives 

The  most  unlikely  and  impossible  of  the  three 
alternatives  at  present  (quite  apart  for  the  moment 
from  any  article  of  Christian  faith),  both  on  account 
of  insufficient  direct  evidence  for,  and  the  strength 
of  the  direct  and  indirect  evidence  against  it,  is  the 
theory  that  the  source  is  the  spirits  of  departed  human 
beings;  in  short,  that  it  is  "necromancy"  under 
a  new  name. 

The  second  of  the  three,  that  all  communications 
come  from  medium  and  audience,  which  is  the  extended 
and  combined  telepathic  and  psychometric  theories, 
would  certainly  be  adopted  generally  did  they  but 
cover  the  whole  ground  without  quite  undue  stretch- 
ing. But  no  one,  even  their  warmest  advocates,  say 
they  do,  so  at  most  this  can  only  account  for  part. 

The  last  of  the  three,  that  messages  may  come  from 
non-human  spirits,  when  carefully  considered,  seems 
the  best  and  most  likely  alternative  for  those  phe- 
nomena that  telepathy  in  its  present  extended  form 
will  not  cover. 

Too  Soon  to  Dogmatise 

Of  course  the  days  are  young  yet,  and  every 
year  scientific  discovery  is  advancing.  Our  knowl- 


no 

edge  does  not  stand  still  one  moment  in  the  under- 
standing of  the  spiritual  and  the  unseen,  now  that 
we  are  free  from  the  paralysing  materialism  of 
Huxley  and  the  monism  of  Haeckel. 

Still,  at  present,  there  remains  this  third  alter- 
native for  those  cases  that  telepathy  will  not  cover. 
Only  we  must  get  rid  of  the  fallacious  but  still  popular 
Spiritist  theory  that  the  only  spirits  that  populate 
the  unseen  world  are  those  of  the  departed;  for 
this  blocks  the  way  to  what  thousands  of  inquirers, 
with  myself,  believe  to  be  the  truth. 

This  truth,  like  all  truths,  does  not  rest  on  one 
point  alone,  but,  once  adopted  as  a  working  hypothe- 
sis, is  found  to  fit  in  with  countless  facts  that  form 
indirect  proofs. 

Bible  True  pro  tern. 

Let  us  all  admit  then,  at  any  rate  pro  tern.,  that  the 
Bible  is  true,  that  the  almost  universal  belief  of  all 
ages  is  true,  and  that  the  other  world  is  densely 
peopled  with  angels  and  spirits,  good  and  bad, 
and  very  possibly  spirits  also  of  a  low  order,  dis- 
tinguished as  daemons,  not  one  of  whom  are  the 
spirits  of  the  dead. 

If  these  spirits  can,  through  the  open  door  of 
the  medium's  trance,  find  any  means  of  commu- 
nicating with  our  earth,  the  Spiritist  phenomena  fit 
in  far  better  with  such  a  theory  than  with  any  other. 
I  have  an  idea  that  it  is  not  found  so  difficult 
now  as  it  might  have  been  some  years  ago  to  thus 
extend  our  belief  in  spirits  into  a  truer  concept 
of  their  orders  and  of  their  non-human 
character. 


SPIRITISM  AND  THE  DEAD  m 

It  is  natural  we  should  discover  that  if  we  will  not 
accept  revealed  truth,  and  live  by  faith  in  this  as 
one  does  in  lesser  matters,  the  only  other  path  is 
that  of  experience. 

The  Fact  of  Another  World 

The  first  point  to  establish  is  the  fact  of  another 
world,  and  the  second,  that  it  is  inhabited  by  in- 
telligences. These  two  points  Spiritism  claims  to 
have  established. 

But  it  is  not  till  this  has  been  done  that  further 
questions  arise.  What  are  these  intelligences? 
Can  we  identify  them  with  our  dead?  And  then, 
before  the  days  of  tests  and  telepathy,  and  when  all 
was  accepted  as  true,  came  the  theory,  naturally 
enough,  that  all  spirits  in  the  other  world  were  those 
of  the  dead. 

But  we  have  got  on  since  those  days,  and  the 
more  we  advance  the  less  certain  does  it  appear  to 
be  that  Spiritists  really  are  in  touch  with  disem- 
bodied spirits;  more  and  more  are  ordinary  com- 
munications explained  by  telepathy,  and  the 
freakish,  inconsequent,  and  purposeless  and 
meaningless  ones  that  are  left  are  in  all  prob- 
ability from  the  spirit  world,  but  not,  I  suggest, 
from  the  departed  dead. 

Anything  Better  than  Nothing 

It  is  not  quite  easy  to  understand  why  Spiritists, 
who  have  beloved  departed  ones,  should  be  so  anxious 
to  prove  chat  the  unworthy,  conventional,  and  trite 
or  foolish  and  mystic  messages  proceed  from  their 
dear  friends. 


ii2  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

I  suppose  one  would  rather  hear  anything  than 
nothing,  and  it  is  no  pleasure  to  me  to  suggest  that, 
so  far  as  we  have  gone,  necromancy  is  the  least 
probable  solution  of  the  phenomena  observed. 

I  have  pointed  out  that  the  first  two  steps  in 
Spiritism  by  no  means  involve  the  third.  Dr.  A.  D. 
Husted,  for  instance  says:  "I  certainly  believe  in 
the  continued  existence  of  the  soul.  My  belief  is 
based  upon  experience  and  on  the  study  of  psy- 
chology for  fifteen  years.  I  take  no  part  in  the 
phenomena  of  the  Spiritism  of  to-day,  which  I 
regard  as  fraudulent  communications." 

Professor  Van  der  Naden  says:  "From  forty 
years  of  scientific  investigation  I  am  absolutely 
certain  of  the  continuation  of  life  after  death." 

I  venture  to  say  the  stated  position  of  these  two 
scientists  is  that  of  any  Christian  throughout  the 
world  and  of  tens  of  thousands  of  others  to-day; 
but  it  by  no  means  implies  communications  with 
the  dead. 


CHAPTER  VII 

"POSSESSION"  AND  ALLIED  STATES 
A  Dark  Problem 

IN  this  chapter  and  the  next  we  touch  on  important 
subjects  of  great  interest,  more  or  less  allied  to 
Spiritism;  they  cannot  therefore  well  be  skipped. 
This  chapter,  particularly  in  speaking  on  "posses- 
sion," touches  on  one  of  the  darkest  problems  of 
Spiritism,  and  one  which  I  must  dwell  on,  so  strongly 
do  I  fell  about  it. 

Many,  who  know  nothing  of  these  occult  subjects, 
must  have  been  surprised  and  amused  when  at  some 
friend's  house  they  passed  an  idle  hour  in  table- 
turning,  or  even  in  planchette*  writing,  to  see  the 
horrified  look  on  the  face  of  one  of  the  bystanders. 
They  cannot  in  the  least  understand  the  earnest 
warning  that  follows  not  to  "dabble  in  Spiritism," 
and  naturally  put  down  the  mentor  as  some  faddist 
or  alarmist  obsessed  by  groundless  fears.  The 
whole  thing  looks  so  absolutely  simple  and  innocent, 

*  Some  may  not  know  that  this  is  a  small  triangular  board 
mounted  on  two  very  short  wheeled  feet,  while  the  support  at 
the  apex  is  an  upright  pencil.  This  is  placed  on  a  large  sheet  of 
paper,  and  the  hands,  joined,  are  laid  flat,  quite  passively,  on 
the  wood.  After  a  short  time  it  may  begin  to  move  automati- 
cally, and  write  letters  and  words,  or  draw  figures. 


ii4  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

that  the  warning  is  disregarded  and  nothing  happens. 
It  may  be  twenty  years  after,  when  happily  married, 
the  same  lady  who  was  warned  long  ago,  in  an  idle 
hour  recalls  the  long-forgotten  planchette,  and  gets  it 
out  of  the  cupboard  and  sits  down  to  "try  her  luck." 
The  board  responds,  and  interest  is  awakened.  The 
recreation  becomes  a  pursuit,  soon  raps  are  heard, 
and  then  something  does  happen,  and  the  long- 
forgotten  warning  is  recalled  when  it  is  too  late. 

Such  a  case  is  not  imaginary,  but  is  outlined  from 
life. 

Timely  Warning 

I  myself,  driven  by  my  own  certain  knowledge, 
have  acted  as  such  a  mentor  more  than  once.  Only 
the  other  day,  when  dining  with  one  of  our  best 
known  London  vicars,  I  pointed  out  some  of  the 
dangers  (the  subject  of  Chapter  X.)  of  table-turning, 
etc.,  and  in  his  sermon  next  Sunday  he  touched  on 
them.  A  lady  in  the  congregation  who  was  beginning 
tc  dabble  in  the  occult  was  struck,  and  wrote  to  him 
for  the  address  of  the  physician  who  had  spoken. 
The  vicar  asked  my  leave  to  give  it,  and  the  lady 
then  wrote  to  me.  I  replied  and  advised  her  strongly 
at  once  to  give  up  all  such  practices,  and  soon  got 
a  letter  back  to  say  she  had  done  so,  and  was  most 
grateful  for  the  timely  warning. 

I  do  not  find  such  renunciations  too  common,  and 
should  recommend  any  friendly  reader,  if  these  warn- 
ings do  not  succeed,  to  get  their  friend  to  read 
the  tenth  chapter  of  this  book,  or  Hugh  Benson's 
"Necromancers."  Raupert,  a  well-known  writer, 
points  out  that  "Planchette  and  automatic  writing 


"POSSESSION"  AND  ALLIED  STATES     115 

may  become  a  source  of  most  disastrous  develop- 
ment." 

Letters  from  "Julia" 

I  quite  agree  that  automatic  writing  is  not  in 
the  least  reliable  as  proving  any  spirit  communica- 
tion. Those  who  use  it  may  have  mediumistic 
powers,  and  all  the  writing  may  come  unknown  to 
themselves,  from  their  own  unconscious  minds. 
I  do  not,  myself,  doubt  that  the  notorious  letters 
of  "Julia"  in  "After  Death"  were  thus  produced; 
bearing  as  they  do  throughout  the  unmistakable 
impress  of  the  mind  of  Mr.  W.  T.  Stead,  whose  hand 
unconsciously  wrote  them.  On  the  other  hand, 
some  are  objective,  and  not  written  by  oneself 
at  all. 

Many  Christian  people  in  such  cases,  who  are 
quite  orthodox,  indulge  in  a  pursuit  believed  to  be 
harmless;  but  psychic  consequences,  more  or  less 
dangerous,  soon  follow.  The  judgment  becomes 
paralysed,  the  will  surrendered,  and  insanity  or 
"possession"  may  eventually  ensue. 

Sir  Oliver  Lodge  on  "Possession" 

"We  really  know  nothing  about  the  connection 
between  mind  and  body,  the  spiritual  and  the 
material.  We  know  that  each  organism  belongs  to 
the  special  psychic  character  (or  personality)  that 
employs  it,  just  as  a  violin  belongs  to  a  special 
operator,  who  might  resent  any  other  person 
attempting  to  play  upon  it.  But  that  proves 
nothing  as  to  the  impossibility  of  so  utilising  it.  If 
it  be  possible  for  the  normal  operator  to  leave  his 


n6  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

mechanism  open  to  a  visitor,  it  is  a  definite  fact  we 
may  as  well,  know. 

"As  to  the  power  of  dislocation  of  the  usual 
connection  between  mind  and  body,  it  is  supposed  to 
occur  (generally)  during  sleep."* 

I  will  now  proceed  to  give,  with  brevity,  a  -few 
cases  of  "possession"  known  to  myself. 

What  "Possession"  is 

Perhaps  before  doing  so  it  may  be  well,  for  the 
benefit  of  those  to  whom  the  whole  subject  is  new 
to  remark  that  "possession"  means  exactly  what 
is  hinted  at  by  Sir  Oliver  Lodge;  only  the  "visitor" 
suggested  is  always  some  more  or  less  evil  (not 
disembodied)  spirit  from  another  world.  It  is  this 
that  distinguishes  "possession"  from  "double 
personality,"  of  which  we  shall  speak  later.  This 
latter  term  is  best  reserved  for  those  cases  when  the 
"visitor"  appears  to  be  absolutely  human,  and 
generally  one's  own  self  at  another  period  of  life. 

"Possession"  by  an  evil  spirit  is  tacitly  recognised 
by  most  of  our  alienists.  There  is  no  large  asylum 
that  does  not  contain  one  or  more  of  such  cases. 
These  people  are  often  otherwise  sane,  but  are 
constantly  liable  to  have  their  bodies  used,  against 
their  will,  by  some  alien  and  evil  force. 

"Possession"  in  the  Holborn  Restaurant 

The  other  day  a  mental  physician  called  on  me 
and  asked  if  I  would  come  and  see  a  well-marked 
case  of  "possession."  I  begged  to  be  excused,  for  I 
had  seen  so  many. 

*  Sir  Oliver  Lodge,  "Survival  of  Man,"  p.  172. 


"POSSESSION"  AND  ALLIED  STATES  117 

"Oh,  but  you  must  see  this  one;  it  is  so  remark- 
able. The  man  is  quite  able  to  go  about,  and  has 
come  over  to  London  to  be  cured. 

"I  cannot  spare  the  time." 

"Well,  come  to  the  Holborn  Restaurant  and  dine 
with  us  there." 

The   Arab  Gentleman 

He  was  so  earnest  about  it  that  I  consented,  and 
found  myself  a  few  nights  later  sitting  with  the 
doctor  opposite  to  an  Arab  gentleman,  evidently  of 
high  breeding.  He  briefly  explained  his  distressing 
case.  He  was  of  the  highest  rank  in  Arabia,  but  had 
moved  for  some  years  to  India,  and,  being  very 
well  off,  soon  got  mixed  up  with  some  of  the  idle 
rich  who  dabbled  in  Spiritism.  He  commenced  with 
table-turning  and  planchette  writing,  but  soon 
began  to  hear  "raps."  These  pursued  him  to  his 
bedroom,  and  his  sleep  became  disturbed  with  the 
noises  and  trying  to  decipher  them.  Then  he  heard 
voices  at  the  window,  and  at  last  one  day,  he  told 
me  with  deep  earnestness,  he .  heard  suddenly  the 
same  voice  from  within;  and  from  then  he  has  lived 
a  life  of  torment.  He  was  deeply  convinced  of  the 
evil  nature  of  this  "unknown  (and  unwelcome) 
guest,"  for  it  was  ever  speaking  to  him  the  most 
impure  thoughts  in  the  purest  Arabic  (not  Hindu- 
stance,  though  it  entered  him  in  India),  and  suggest- 
ing horrible  crimes  and  debaucheries.*  He  said  he 
was  only  now  partially  master  of  himself,  and  he 
could  no  longer  drag  on  such  a  life,  but  must 

*  He  particularly  pointed  out  it  was  a  dialect  only  spoken  by 
the  highest  classes  in  Arabia. 


ii8  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

commit  suicide  if  he  could  not  be  cured.  Half-way 
through  the  dinner  this  spirit  began  speaking,  but 
of  course  I  could  not  understand  a  word  till  the 
man  translated  it, — a  very  weird  performance. 

A  German  Lady 

Another  was  a  very  different  case,  and  was  well 
known  to  my  principal  London  publisher  at  the 
time,  and  to  a  lifelong  friend,  daughter  of  an  emi- 
nent Harley  Street  physician.  This  was  a  Christian 
lady  of  rank  in  Germany  (ante  bellum),  who,  how 
I  know  not,  became  ' '  possessed  "  of  an  evil  spirit.  For 
nearly  two  years,  at  intervals,  when  sitting  at  table 
with  friends,  or  receiving  them  in  her  drawing- 
room,  she  would  suddenly  begin  to  talk  in  a  rough, 
hoarse,  man's  voice,  saying  all  sorts  of  things  that 
purported  to  be  revelations  of  Satanic  mysteries, 
blaspheming  against  God,  and  uttering  all  sorts  of 
obscenities.*  It  particularly  spoke>  with  approval, 
of  some  supposed  miraculous  gifts  then  overrunning 
Germany,  and  declared  they  were  sent  by  the  higher 
evil  powers  for  purposes  of  deception.  After  half  an 
hour  or  so  her  natural  voice  would  return,  and  she 
would  resume  her  conversation  where  she  left  off, 
and  was  quite  unconscious  of  anything  that  had 
happened.  Of  course  her  friends  declared  her  mad, 
and  distinguished  alienists  came  to  examine  her, 
and  found  her  sane,  but  "possessed."  Great 
prayer  was  made  for  her  in  large  private  prayer 
circles,  and  in  the  church,  and  suddenly  one  day, 
after  a  long  and  terrible  display  of  evil,  the  spirit 
left  her,  and  she  was  completely  restored  to  her  usual 
*  It  is  curious  how  obscenity  and  profanity  go  together. 


"POSSESSION"  AND  ALLIED  STATES      119 

health.  This  woman  was  fortunately  of  exceptional 
ability;  had  she  had  any  natural  flaw  in  her  men- 
tality, such  a  visitation  would  probably  be  but 
the  prelude  to  real  insanity. 

A  Lady  in  Bayswater 

Some  years  ago  I  had  a  case  that  much  distressed 
me.  There  were  two  quiet  maiden  ladies,  Christians 
of  the  Church  of  England,  living  in  a  small  house  of 
their  own  in  Bayswater,  and  full  of  good  works. 

How,  I  know  not,  the  younger  of  them  was  sud- 
denly "possessed"  with  an  evil  spirit.  The  first 
attack  was  truly  terrible.  I  was  hastily  called  to 
the  terrace,  where  they  lived,  and  in  the  bed- 
room I  found  the  younger  one  on  the  bed,  and  the 
elder,  staring  in  agony  at  her  sister,  standing  at 
the  foot. 

The  former  was  simply  pouring  out  blasphemies 
and  obscenities  with  an  ease  and  rapidity  that 
bespoke  long  practice.  The  language  used  and  the 
animus  displayed  against  God  were  as  remarkable 
as  they  were  horrible.  She  was  quite  unconscious. 
Her  sister,  weeping  at  the  foot  of  the  bed,  kept 
declaring  that,  to  her  certain  knowledge,  her  sister 
had  never  even  heard  the  fearful  words  she  was 
using  so  volubly.  They  had  never  been  in  the  East 
End,  or  visited  among  the  poor,  and  had  led 
sheltered  lives,  where  no  such  language  was  ever 
heard.  It  was  quite  clear  to  me  that  the  true 
diagnosis  of  the  case  was  "possession."  After  a 
while,  and  after  violent  convulsions,  the  spirit  left 
her,  and  quite  unconscious  of  all  that  had  happened, 
she  was  her  own  sweet  self  again.  These  scenes 


120  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

were  frequently  repeated;  again  most  earnest  prayer 
was  made,  and,  without  insisting  here  on  direct 
cause  and  effect,  I  am  glad  to  say  the  "possession" 
gradually  ceased.  These  true  incidents  and  others 
that  will  follow  may,  I  fear,  somewhat  try  the 
patience  of  some  of  my  more  sceptical  readers. 

Current  Scepticism 

Many  have  indeed  read,  at  any  rate  in  their  child- 
hood, that  in  Palestine  in  the  days  of  Christ,  a  long 
time  ago,  certain  unfortunate  people  were  "pos- 
sessed with  devils."  But  these  were  in  the  Bible, 
and  no  such  things  were  to  be  found  in  modern 
life.  Not  only  so,  but  science  had  long  since  pro- 
fessed to  discover  that  even  in  those  times  there 
were  not  any  such  "possessions";  that  it  was  simply 
a  case  of  wrong  diagnosis,  and  that  the  real  character 
of  such  a  disease  had  been  discovered.  All  sorts  of 
things  at  that  time  were  ascribed  to  spirit  agencies 
in  a  country  where  the  "evil  eye"  then  was,  and 
still  is,  a  cherished  delusion. 

"Possession"  is  a  Fact  To-day 

It  must  come,  therefore,  with  something  of  a 
shock  to  a  thoughtful  reader  to  find  a  physician 
and  a  psychologist  risking  his  reputation  (like 
Sir  Wm.  Crookes,  longo  intervallo]  by  speaking  of 
"possession"  in  the  twentieth  century.  I  feel  sure 
that  such  a  reader  will  soon  decide  that  his  own 
doctor,  a  sensible  man,  must  see  this  book  at  once, 
which  he  is  quite  sure  he  would  not  endorse.  .--; 

Perhaps  he  would  not,  unless  he  were  an  alienist 
of  considerable  experience;  but  the  fact  of  "pos- 


"POSSESSION"  AND  ALLIED  STATES  121 

session"  is  at  least  as  well  established  as  any  other 
fact  in  Spiritism,  and  is,  I  fear,  true. 

Bear  then  a  little  longer  with  a  very  brief  sketch 
of  these  horrors.  It  may  be  worth  your  while  to  do 
so,  if  it  leads  to  any  practical  result ;  and  is  accepted 
as  a  warning,  not  to  be  disregarded,  against  tam- 
pering in  any  way  with  the  powers  of  the  other 
world,  or  indulging  in  any  practices  clearly  con- 
demned in  Holy  Scripture;  in  the  truth  of  whose 
words,  I  cherish  a  hope,  our  "thinkers"  may  yet 
be  led  again  to  believe.  Thank  God,  there  are  many, 
and  these  not  of  least  repute,  who  do  so  to-day. 

The  Pious  Quaker 

A  pious  Quaker  gentleman,  a  lay  preacher,  and  a 
greatly  honoured  character,  was  sent  me  by  some 
Irish  doctors,  who  could  not  diagnose  the  malady. 
I  considered  the  case  one  of  "possession."  The 
attacks  I  found  to  be  so  extremely  violent  as  well  as 
so  noisy  physically,  and  so  distressing  mentally,  that 
I  had  to  take  a  quiet  house  at  Henley-on-Thames  and 
engage  two  strong  male  mental  nurses  to  look  after 
him,  a  young  residential  doctor  being  in  attendance, 
while  I  visited  the  case  as  often  as  I  could. 

I  shall  never  forget  those  visits.  I  seemed  to  be 
standing  at  the  mouth  of  hell.  The  grinding  of  the 
teeth,  till  eventually  all  of  his  fine  set  (not  artificial) 
were  broken  into  bits  and  scattered  over  the  room, 
the  horrible  expression  of  his  face,  but,  above  all 
the  scorching  and  devilish  language,  can  only  be 
alluded  to.  The  result  was  that  both  male  nurses 
(as  stoical  a  race  as  can  be  found)  gave  me  notice, 
saying  "that  no  salary  would  induce  them  to 


122  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

continue  to  hear  such  utterances,"   inured  as  they 
both  were  to  the  vilest  language. 

Between  the  times  of  the  attacks  nothing  could 
be  gentler  and  quieter  than  this  aged  Quaker. 

Real  Devil  "Possession" 

It  will  be  observed  that,  while  I  cannot  connect 
these  two  cases  directly  with  Spiritism,  I  adduce 
them  in  proof  of  the  fact,  in  the  present  day,  of  real 
"devil  possession."  This  of  course,  if  proved,  turns 
the  whole  position  of  those  Spiritists  who  declare 
the  next  world  is  denizened  only  by  the  dis- 
embodied spirits  of  the  dead;  for  I  trust  none  of 
my  readers  will  allow  that  humanity,  embodied  or 
disembodied,  could  ever  descend  to  such  depths  as 
I  have  described. 

Professor  William  James  writes:  "The  refusal  of 
modern  enlightenment  to  treat  "possession"  as  a 
possible  hypothesis  has  always  seemed  to  me  a 
curious  example  of  the  power  of  fashion." 

Personalities 

I  now  turn  to  a  much  less  unpleasant  subject, 
that  of  double,  multiple,  and  alternating  per- 
sonalities. 

In  these  cases  two  or  more  personalities  (egos) 
seem  to  dwell  in  the  same  body,  sometimes  simul- 
taneously (double  and  multiple  personality),  and 
sometimes  in  succession  (alternating  personalities). 

I  do  not  call  them  cases  of  "possession,"  inas- 
much as  nothing  evil  is  manifest.  Mediums  (through 
the  power  of  their  controls?),  I  believe,  unconsciously 
often  seem  to  have  the  personality  of  the  speaking 


"POSSESSION"  AND  ALLIED  STATES  123 

"spirit"  transferred  to  them,  even  to  the  facial 
expression,  voice,  etc.  Curiously  enough,  two  of  the 
well-marked  cases  of  alternating  personality  known 
to  me  are  both  those  of  Baptist  ministers.  One 
was  a  man,  the  Rev.  Ansel  Bourne,  who  was  lost, 
suddenly  disappearing  from  his  town  and  chapel  for 
two  months.  The  case  was  investigated  by  the 
S.P.R.,  who  found  that  he  was  seized  with  the  belief 
that  he  was  a  merchant  of  the  name  of  A.  J.  Brown. 
I  never  heard  whether  he  had  ever  known  such  a 
man,  or  if  such  a  man  ever  existed.  Suffice  it  to  say 
that  when  he  disappeared  he  bought  a  shop  in 
another  town,  stocked  it  with  small  wares,  and 
carried  it  on  successfully  for  six  weeks.  The  name 
was  painted  over  the  door.  When  found,  and 
brought  back,  he  remembered  nothing.  R.  Hodgson, 
LL.D.,  personally  examined  the  evidence  and  found 
it  absolutely  true. 

The  Infant  Minister 

A  second  case  was  brought  to  my  notice  by  Dr. 
Lloyd  Tuckey,  a  well-known  London  specialist,  of 
another  Baptist  minister. 

Driving  home  one  day,  this  unfortunate  man 
was  thrown  out  of  his  gig  on  to  his  head.  Being 
delicate  such  an  accident  was  very  serious,  but 
those  who  brought  him  home  and  the  doctor  who 
examined  him  at  the  time  could  discover  nothing 
more  than  that  the  minister  was  naturally  stunned 
and  dazed.  He  was  carefully  undressed  and,  after 
some  liquid  food,  was  placed  in  bed.  He  was  a 
bachelor  and  lived  alone  with  two  servants. 

In    the   morning  the   housemaid   knocked   at   his 


i24  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

door,  but  could  get  no  reply.  A  little  later  she 
knocked  again,  without  getting  any  response.  She 
then  turned  the  handle  and  opened  the  door,  and  saw 
the  Baptist  minister  lying  awake  in  bed  and  smiling. 
Something  new  and  strange  in  his  face  alarmed 
her,  and  she  went  out,  closing  the  door,  and  told  the 
cook.  The  latter  was  an  experienced  married  woman 
and  used  to  emergencies,  and  declared  she  would 
soon  find  out  what  it  was;  so  the  two  returned  and 
entered  the  bedroom.  The  Baptist  minister  still 
retained  his  fixed  smile,  but  did  not  attempt  to 
answer  any  of  the  queries  as  to  how  he  felt,  if  there 
was  any  pain,  what  he  was  smiling  at,  etc. 

The  Cook's  Diagnosis 

The  cook,  evidently  a  close  observer,  then  noticed 
a  little  fluid  trickling  from  the  corner  of  his  mouth, 
and  when  she  smiled  at  him  he  began  making 
a  low  noise,  described,  I  believe,  by  the  initiated  as 
"gurgling." 

"Bless  his  dear  heart,"  cried  the  cook,  in  an 
uneasy  ecstasy,  "Why,  he's  a  baby;  look  at  him 
dribbling.  Anyhow  we  will  soon  see." 

A  little  tea  and  bread  and  butter  had  already  been 
brought  in,  but  nothing  would  induce  the  infant- 
minister  to  look  at  them. 

The  cook  went  out,  and  returned  with  a  spoon 
and  some  sweetened  milk  in  a  saucer.  She  extem- 
porised a  bit  and  began  feeding  him  in  bed.  He 
waved  his  arms  about  and  kicked  his  legs  in 
ecstasy,  and  smiled  still  more  as  he  took  spoonful 
after  spoonful. 

Cook,   however,    delighted  with  her  new  charge, 


"POSSESSION"  AND  ALLIED  STATES    125 

was  not  content  with  this,  but  tried  to  get  hearer  to  a 
baby's  natural  food;  and,  having  brought  up  several 
"by  hand,"  got  a  feeding  bottle  from  home,  bought 
a  new  nipple  for  it,  and  made  up  the  correct  lactic 
mixture,  and  was  rewarded  by  its  being  greedily 
imbibed  by  the  still  unsatisfied  Baptist  minister. 

Perplexing  Position 

Then,  of  course,  came  the  trouble;  he  had  to  be 
washed  and  dressed,  and  that  speedily.  I  have  no 
account  of  the  ablutions,  'but  the  clothes  were  a 
puzzle,  for  the  case  was  new  to  them.  Babies  they 
knew,  Baptist  ministers  they  knew,  but  the  com- 
bination was  too  much.  They  eventually  com- 
promised as  far  as  they  could,  avoiding  the  ridiculous 
as  much  as  possible,  but  the  effect  was  very 
weird. 

The  cook  and  housemaid  were  soon  perplexed  as 
to  the  next  step.  Of  course,  such  a  terrible  occurrence 
could  not  be  kept  private,  and  yet  how  to  tell  it? 
The  case  did  not  seem  urgent,  for  the  baby  was  in 
perfect  health,  and  showed  an  angelic  disposition  as 
the  minister  crawled  about  the  floor,  cooing  and  gurg- 
ling. It  was  like  a  nightmare !  At  last  they  decided 
to  call  in  the  deacons.  These  good  men,  though 
they  tried  to  look  grave  and  expressed  much  sorrow 
at  the  accident,  could  hardly  conceal  their  untimely 
mirth.  After  consultation  they  decided  that  every 
effort  must  be  made  to  induce  him  to  occupy  the 
pulpit  the  following  Sunday,  and  they  relied  greatly 
on  accustomed  sights  and  sounds  to  restore  him  to 
what  they  called  "his  senses." 


126  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

The  Deacons'  Effort 

So  a  cab  was  called  and  the  keys  were  fetched,  and 
the  adult  infant  was  conveyed  into  his  chapel  in  the 
strictest  privacy.  You  can  picture  how  in  the  cab 
(with  the  cook  who  would  not  leave  "the  sweet 
dear")  he  was  stirred  up  by  one  deacon's  fingers, 
who  solemnly  begged  and  entreated  him  to  be  a  man, 
and  to  remember  who  he  was.  An  unchanging 
smile  was  his  only  reply.  "Don't  be  a  fool,  sir," 
said  the  other,  "remember  to-morrow  is  the  Sab- 
bath, and  you've  got  to  preach.  Here  is  the  chapel," 
and  he  pushed  the  "baby"  to  the  window,  quickly 
withdrawing  it,  however,  when  a  man  passed  by. 
With  some  difficulty  they  climbed  with  the  heavy 
but  still  smiling  burden  into  the  pulpit,  placed  the 
minister's  two  hands  upon  the  open  Bible  on  the 
desk,  and  kept  him  in  a  standing  position  by  sup- 
porting his  feeble  knees.  The  devoted  cook  seated 
herself  in  a  pew  in  front  of  her  charge. 

"Now,  dear,  preach  me  a  nice  sermon." 

The  baby  did  his  best,  and  cooed  as  well  as 
smiled. 

"He'll  start  singing  if  he  hears  the  music,"  said  a 
deacon,  and  off  he  went  to  the  American  organ  and 
began  to  play  the  Old  Hundredth  Psalm. 

Alas,  it  was  hopeless,  and  when  the  happy  baby 
began  to  dribble  over  the  sacred  pages  the  defeated 
deacons  had  to  remove  their  minister  and  get  him 
home  with  his  nurse  as  best  they  could. 

Recovery 

Much  of  interest  transpired  which  I  cannot  recount. 
Suffice  it  to  say,  this  condition  of  infancy  in  mature 


"POSSESSION"  AND  ALLIED  STATES  127 

life  might  have  continued  indefinitely  had  not  the 
babe  one  day,  in  the  cook's  absence,  managed  to  fall, 
very  bumpily,  down  the  stairs,  and  at  the  bottom  he 
rose  up — the  Baptist  minister.  Naturally  he  wished 
to  know  why  he  was  there  and  what  had  happened, 
over  which  it  took  all  the  cook's  wits  to  draw  a 
decent  veil.  He  continued  quite  well  for  some  time, 
but  I  am  informed  he  has  since  had  another  relapse 
into  his  early  years.  He  has  not,  of  course,  been 
told  of  his  curious  affection,  but  probably  has  some 
indistinct  idea  of  what  has  occurred. 

Both  of  these  are  cases  of  alternating  personalities. 
I  have  had  none  of  multiple  personalities,  but  other 
doctors  have.  Having  nothing  to  do  with  mad 
people,  but  only  with  nerve  sufferers,  such  do  not 
as  a  rule  come  in  my  way,  but  are  not  very  rare  in 
asylums.  The  classical  case  of  three  very  distinct 
personalities  in  a  servant  girl  is  perhaps  the  one 
described  in  the  greatest  detail.  I  believe  it  is 
found  in  the  Transactions  of  the  S.P.R. 

The  case  I  next  record  has  been  under  my  obser- 
vation for  over  twenty  years. 

Fourteen  and  Forty 

A  friend  of  mine  in  a  country  district  had  a  small 
house  for  non-normal  children,  and  this  girl,  one  of  the 
inmates,  whom  I  will  call  Fanny  Smith,  heard  from 
her  a  very  great  deal  about  me,  and  began  writing 
to  me  very  beautiful  but  puzzling  letters.  They 
were  beautiful  on  account  of  their  lofty  thoughts 
and  amazing  grasp  of  character,  and  at  the  same 
time  puzzling  because  of  their  extreme  simplicity. 

I  thought  her  wonderful  for  the  age  I   supposed 


128  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

her  to  be,  which  was  that  of  a  girl  from  twelve  to 
fourteen.  When,  however,  after  a  time  I  heard 
more  details  about  her,  how  she  loved  dolls  and  toys 
and  the  rocking-horse,  and  how  she  was  often  put  in 
the  corner,  I  lowered  the  age  to  eight  or  ten,  feeling, 
at  the  same  time,  how  impossible  it  was  to  think  she 
could  have  written  these  clever  letters.  Suddenly, 
after  I  had  received  a  good  many,  the  news  came 
from  herself  like  a  bombshell  to  say  (she  would  have 
told  me  before,  but  she  always  felt  so  ashamed  of  her 
condition)  that  she  was  the  daughter  of  a  clergyman 
and  was  now  forty  years  of  age.  I  went  down  to  see 
her  for  the  first  time  after  corresponding  for 
years. 

Practically  Two  People 

I  found  a  quiet  woman  dressed  as  a  child  in  a  pina- 
fore, but  with  an  old  face  and  set  figure.  With  great 
simplicity  and  modesty  she  put  to  me  one  or  two 
questions  which  absolutely  posed  me.  After  a  time 
I  realised  I  had  here  a  most  interesting  case  of 
double  personality.  Fanny  knew  perfectly  well  she 
was  practically  two  people,  unlike  the  Baptist 
ministers.  At  night  she  used  to  have  rather  terrify- 
ing times  with  dazzling  lights  and  other  phenomena, 
and  she  would  get  up  in  the  morning  a  rather 
naughty  child,  whom  nothing  would  satisfy  but  toys 
and  a  rocking-horse.  On  other  occasions  she  would 
be  a  clever,  middle-aged  woman  selling  tea  in  the 
village  for  the  benefit  of  the  funds  of  the  home. 
She  did  not  seem  to  pass  abruptly  from  one  state 
to  the  other,  but  more  or  less  gradually,  and  the 
grown  person  always  knew  of  the  child  state  and  was 


"POSSESSION"  AND  ALLIED  STATES       129 

ashamed  of  it,  and,  I  presume,  to  a  certain  extent 
the  child,  only  vice  versa. 

For  some  years  now  the  child  has  wholly  dis- 
appeared and  the  personality  is  now  but  one,  and  she 
is  a  delightful,  quiet,  sunny,  quaint,  and  deeply 
spiritual  woman. 

Established  Facts 

It  will  be  noted  that  two  of  the  three  cases  I 
have  quoted  have  been  of  different  ages  in  the 
same  individual.  I  have  met  others,  but  am  unable 
to  refer  to  them.  Instances  abound,  however, 
where  the-  second  personality  (like  my  first  Baptist 
minister)  is  a  being  of  different  tastes  and  character 
from  the  first.  The  reader  may  rest  assured  that 
double  personality  and  "possession"  are  as  well  estab- 
lished scientifically  as  telepathy,  and  only  those  who 
know  the  years  of  scientific  labour  that  has  been 
needed  to  prove  the  latter  true  in  spite  of  all  preju- 
dice and  opposition,  can  understand  the  force  of 
this  statement. 

It  is  well  to  point  out,  before  leaving  the  subject, 
that  of  the  seven  cases  I  have  given,  in  two  instances 
only,  that  of  the  Arab  gentleman  and  the  last  case, 
was  the  curious  condition  known  to  the  conscious 
mind  of  the  sufferer;  in  the  other  five  it  was  not 
so  known,  though  it  might  be  suspected,  and  there  is 
no  proof  of  normal  consciousness  when  in  the 
abnormal  state,  though  there  is  plenty  of  mental 
vigour.* 

*  Let  me  say  that  the  unconscious  mind,  which,  when  I  first 
spoke  of  it  twenty  years  ago,  was  bitterly  scoffed  at,  and  nowhere 
accepted  in  English  scientific  circles,  is  now  a  commonplace. 

M.S.  9 


i3o  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

Psychometry 

I  have  already  mentioned  "  psychometry "  (or  the 
measuring  of  another's  mind)  as  having  its  part  in 
the  medium's  equipment.  It  is  absolutely  necessary, 
then,  to  avoid  complete  bewilderment  to  the  reader, 
who  is  patiently  moving  with  distrustful  steps 
amid  so  many  mysteries,  to  explain  and  illustrate 
each  term,  as  far  as  I  can,  as  we  proceed;  and  I  am 
not  without  hope  that  the  necessary  variety  this 
introduces  may  have  the  happy  result  of  inducing 
the  reader  to  continue  reading  to  the  end. 

It  is  probably  contrary  to  all  the  received  canons 
of  literature  for  an  author  thus  continually  to  address 
his  readers;  but  the  unusual  nature  of  his  task  must 
be  his  apology. 

Psychometry,  a  sixth  (or  seventh)  sense,  was  dis- 
covered by  Dr.  Joseph  Rodes  Buchanan  in  1842, 
but  took  a  good  many  years  to  establish,  and  to  the 
present  day  is  largely  unknown.  He  describes  it 
as  the  power  of  the  soul  (mind)  to  measure  other 
souls.  Like  most  fathers,  he  advances  great  claims 
for  his  child.  "It  is,"  he  says,  "the  science  of 
divinity  (!)  in  man,  whose  faculty  of  intention,  by 
the  art  of  this  divine  science,  enables  geologists  to 
see  the  world  in  its  formation,  physicians  to  watch 
the  progress  of  disease.  Time  has  no  meaning  for 
the  psychometrist;  the  past  and  the  future  are  to 
him  open  books." 

Out  of  this  rhapsody  I  will,  at  any  rate,  prove  the 
last  sentence  true. 

We  may  speak  of  a  secondary  consciousness;  but  the  fact 
remains,  that  any  state  of  which  the  individual  himself  is  not 
conscious  is,  to  him,  unconsciousness. 


"POSSESSION"  AND  ALLIED  STATES    131 

The  Stone  from  Jericho 

I  used  to  see  before  the  war,  in  my  consulting 
room,  a  young  friend  studying  at  University  College 
for  the  London  M.A.  She  was  exceedingly  clever 
in  many  ways,  and  hearing  she  had  the  gift  of 
"psychometry,"  of  which  I  then  knew  little,  I 
tried  her  with  one  or  two  objects  lying  on  my  desk, 
with  surprising  results.  I  had  recently  returned  home 
from  examining  Professor  Sellin's  (the  Austrian 
explorer)  wonderful  work  in  laying  bare,  after  a 
burial  of  3,000  years,  the  Jericho,  in  the  Jordan 
valley,  of  the  days  of  Joshua. 

Being  among  the  first  to  arrive,  little  had  then  been 
moved  (all  is  now  gone),  and  lying  thickly  about  in 
the  sand  in  great  numbers  outside  the  city  were 
exceedingly  heavy  round  stones,  the  size  of  an 
orange. 

I  found  that  in  those  primitive  days  these  balls, 
which  exactly  fitted  the  hand,  were  weapons  of 
offence  thrown  without  a  sling,  probably  with  either 
hand.*  Most  probably  the  one  I  brought  home 
was  one  thrown  in  the  last  great  struggle  in  which 
the  city  was  taken.  I  placed  it  without  comment  in 
her  hand. 

The  Past  an  Open  Book 

Well  may  Dr.  Buchanan  say  that  to  the  psy- 
chometrist  "time  has  no  meaning  and  the  past 
is  an  open  book";  it  is  so.  Never  shall  I  forget  the 
look  of  frozen  horror  all  over  her  face  the  moment 
she  took  the  ball  in  her  hand.  She  would  not  retain 
it.  "Take  it  away,  take  it  away,"  she  said,  "it 

*  Cf.  Judges  xx.  1 6,  only  these  stones  were  thrown,  not  slung. 

9—2 


i32  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

is  dreadful.  I  can't  bear  it."  It  took  some  time  to 
quiet  her  down,  and  I  asked  what  was  the  matter. 
"Oh,"  she  said,  "that  was  a  shock.  That  is  a  very 
wicked  stone,  and  it's  very,  very  old.  I  hear  shouts 
and  cries  of  battle.  It  all  seems  so  strange,  and  old, 
and  wicked.  What  is  it?  Do  you  know?"  Of 
course  I  knew  well,  for  there  are  few  round  stones 
associated  with  such  scenes  as  this,  which  she  dis- 
covered in  a  moment. 

An  Asylum  Chaplain 

A  young  clergyman,  whom  she  had  never  seen, 
then  held  up  the  gold  cross  pendant  from  his  watch- 
chain  and  asked  her  to  take  it.  She  held  it  to  her 
forehead  a  moment,  and  of  course  I  now  expected 
something  holy  and  beautiful.  Not  a  bit  of  it.  "Oh, 
how  horrible!  I  hear  shrieks  and  yells  and  all 
sorts  of  queer  noises.  Where  am  I  ?  What  is 
it?" 

I  looked  with  surprise  at  the  young  man,  who, 
however,  did  not  seem  much  astonished.  "I  was 
chaplain  in  a  lunatic  asylum,"  he  said,  "for  years, 
and  I  suppose  that's  what  she  hears." 

Such  powers,  it  is  obvious,  would  account  for 
much  that  happens  at  seances,  especially  when  I 
reveal  the  means  by  which,  unconsciously  to  the 
psychometrist,  it  is  done.  This  was  told  me  in 
another  interview. 

Psychometrist  in  Harley  Street 

A  physician  I  know  in  Harley  Street  has  himself 
remarkable  powers  in  psychometry.  One  afternoon 
I  sat  in  his  drawing-room,  accompanied  by  a  friend 


"POSSESSION"  AND  ALLIED  STATES  133 

of  mine,  a  skilled  electrical  engineer  in  Government 
employ. 

I  handed  the  doctor  the  gold  pencil  with  which  I 
corrected  this  book,  and  he  put  it  to  his  forehead,* 
closed  his  eyes  and  at  once  began  the  history  of  the 
donor  very  fairly  correctly. 

"But  how,"  I  asked  the  engineer,  "can  he  de- 
scribe the  donor  by  the  pencil,  for  she  only  touched 
it  for  a  moment  when  she  took  it  from  the  shopman 
and  handed  it  to  me?" 

"He  doesn't,"  was  the  reply,  "the  pencil  is  of  no 
value  to  him.  He  simply  reads  your  thoughts  by 
telepathy,  and  his  holding  the  pencil  keeps  your 
thoughts  concentrated  on  it."  I  may  say  that  at 
this  time  we  were  alone,  the  doctor  having  been  called 
out  of  the  room.  "Now,"  he  continued,  "I'll 
show  you  something  more.  I  can  inhibit  his  brain 
action  at  will.  Give  him  something  else,  and  put 
up  your  thumb  at  any  time.  So  long  as  it  is  up,  I 
will  stop  his  brain  acting;  when  you  lower  it,  he  will 
proceed." 

Inhibiting  the  Brain 

I  should  say  this  friend  was  introduced  to  the 
doctor  this  afternoon  for  the  first  time. 

The  doctor  returned,  and  I  took  an  old  letter  out 
of  my  pocket  and  gave  it  to  him. 

He  at  once  closed  his  eyes,  held  it  against  his 
forehead,  and  began. 

I  should  say  the  letter  was  from  a  wealthy  Liver- 

*  The  idea  being  that  this  was  the  position  of  the  long-lost 
central  eye  (Cyclops),  now  believed  to  have  been  connected 
with  the  pineal  gland.  I  rather  think  the  place  is  represented 
by  the  infantile  "  anterior  fontanelle. " 


i34  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

pool  merchant,  asking  me  to  undertake  the  case  of 
his  son,  who  was  much  afflicted  with  nerves. 

All  this  he  was  outlining,  slowly  but  surely,  fairly 
well,  when  I  quietly  raised  my  thumb.  "The  boy 
suffered  from  —  from  —  I  can't  see  it,  its  all 
muddled." 

"Goon,"  I  said. 

"I  can't,"  he  replied,  "it's  all  blurred;  I  feel 
confused.  I  was  never  like  this  before,"  and  he 
opened  his  eyes. 

"Shut  your  eyes,"  I  said,  "it's  all  right.  Try 
and  go  on,"  and  I  turned  my  thumb  down. 

He  at  once  said  "Yes,  it's  all  clear,  'from  nervous 
debility,' "  and  he  told  me  all  I  knew. 

A  Puzzling  Case 

I  purposely  record  this,  though  my  friend's  action 
was  not  psychometry,  because  if  not  collusion  and  a 
trick,  which  I  do  not  believe  it  was  for  a  moment, 
it  indicates  there  may  yet  be  other  powers  latent  in 
some,  of  which  we  are  not  aware. 

"Now,"  said  my  friend,  "ask  him  a  question  of 
which  you  do  not  know  the  answer  yourself." 

"Where  is  my  youngest  sister,  and  what  is  she 
doing?" 

The  doctor  had  nothing  to  hold,  but  closed  his 
eyes  and  began: 

' '  I  see  two  ladies  seated  on  a  small  platform  at  a 
table  covered  with  a  cloth — I  think  it's  green"  (it 
wasn't)  "in  a  wooden  building  with  an  iron  roof.  A 
good  number  of  serious-looking  people  are  sitting 
before  them,  to  whom  one  of  the  ladies,  I  think  your 
sister,  is  speaking." 


"POSSESSION"  AND  ALLIED  STATES  135 

"I  haven't  the  least  idea,"  I  said,  "whether  you 
are  right.  But  I'll  write  and  see,  and  let  you  know." 
I  found  he  was. 

Further  Puzzles 

This  case  has  sorely  puzzled  me.  At  last  I've 
thought  that,  after  all,  at  the  time  I  was  thinking  of 
my  sister,  then  engaged  on  a  mission,  and  that  so 
possibly  he  may  have  got  it  partly  from  my  brain. 

It  was  quite  clear  the  doctor  had  no  more  idea 
than  the  medium  (save  in  theory)  of  how  he 
obtained  his  knowledge;  so  that  in  the  case  of  a 
medium,  whether  her  utterances  came  from  a  spirit 
or  from  her  audience's  (unconscious)  minds  through 
her  own  telepathic  powers  in  either  case,  she  could 
not  tell. 

Substances  held  in  the  hands  of  mediums,  and  of 
most  with  telepathic  or  psychometric  (practically 
the  same)  powers,  can  sometimes  be  tasted,  and  may 
even  act  medicinally.  This  is  seen,  not  only  with 
medicines,  but  with  most  other  substances,  in  various 
ways. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
SECOND  SIGHT  AND  APPARITIONS 

THE  bearing,  direct  and  indirect,  of  this  chapter  on 
the  phenomena  of  Spiritism  will  be  seen  to  justify 
its  contents.  I  will  begin  with  my  personal  ex- 
perience of  "second  sight." 

Extent  of  Vibrations 

We  all  know  that  the  spectrum  represents  the 
very  limited  range  of  our  ordinary  vision,  at  any 
rate  as  regards  colour,  and  that  further  ranges  of 
vibrations  of  what  would  equally  be  colour,  could 
we  see  them,  extend  on  either  side. 

Sir  Wm.  Crookes  points  out  that  vibrations  from 
16  to  36,000  per  second  are  known  to  us  as  sounds. 
From  36,000  to  1,000,000,000  (a  pretty  large  range) 
they  are  imperceptible.  Above  1,000,000,000  they 
are  perceived  as  electricity.  From  2,000,000,000  to 
250  billions  ( !)  (a  still  greater  jump)  the  vibrations  are 
again  imperceptible.  From  250  billions  to  1,000 
billions  they  are  again  seen  as  light  and  colour,  from 
infra-red  to  ultra-violet.  From  1,000  billions  to 
250,000  billions  (!)  they  are  imperceptible  for  a 
third  amazing  gap,  while  from  250,000  billions  to 


SECOND  SIGHT  AND  APPARITIONS     137 

5  trillions  ( ?)*  they  form  the  recently  discovered  "X" 
rays.  It  is  quite  evident  that  there  lies  an  enormous 
region  of  "potential"  sight  or  of  other  wonders  in 
this  as  yet  "unseen  world"  of  vibration.  In  time, 
if  we  consider  the  whole  range  of  vibrations  per 
second  as  extending  the  space  -of  a  year,  the  extent 
of  those  known  to  us  are  as  one  second;  that  is,  as 
a  second  is  to  a  year  so  is  the  known  to  the 
unknown.  In  space,  the  known  vibrations  as  com- 
pared with  the  unknown  are  as  less  than  an  inch  to  a 
mile!  As  far  as  I  understand  it,  true  "second  sight" 
that  visualises  invisible  things  is  often  only  an 
abnormally  acute  physical  vision  ;f  at  other  times 
it  refers  to  true  psychic  vision. 

Auras 

"Auras"  constitute  another  of  our  recent  dis- 
coveries, and  are  the  lineal  descendants  of  the 
time-honoured  "haloes,"  with  which  early  sacred 
art  never  failed  to  adorn  the  heads  of  its  holy 
subjects.  We  now  find,  to  our  great  surprise,  they 
are  facts,  and  not  the  imagination  of  visionaries 
or  the  fancies  of  the  mediaeval;  but  alas,  at  the 
same  time,  we  also  discover  that  they  are  neither 
confined  to  the  head,  nor  to  the  holy,  for  they 
surround  the  whole  bodies  of  just  and  unjust  alike. 

Many  of  the  ancients,  however,  in  this,  as  in  much 
else,  had  something  more  than  an  inkling  of  the 
truth. 

Paracelsus  says:  "The  vital  force  is  not  enclosed 

*  A  billion  is  a  million  (not  a  thousand)  millions,  and  a  trillion 
is  a  million  billions,  numbers  wholly  inconceivable.  It  is 
equally  inconceivable  how  these  facts  are  ascertained. 

f  That  can  take  up  vibrations  beyond  the  ultra-violet. 


i38  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

in  man,   but   radiates   round  him  like   a  luminous 
sphere"! 

Dr.  Kilner's  Work 

Dr.  Kilner,  in  the  West  End  of  London,  has  devoted 
a  great  deal  of  his  life  to  the  study  of  auras,  con- 
cerning which  he  has  learned  much,  and  what  he  has 
discovered  he  turns  to  valuable  use  for  diagnosis 
in  his  daily  practice. 

Most  kindly,  finding  out  my  interest  in  these 
phenomena,  he  showed  me  all  he  knew,  and, 
what  was  most  important,  how  a  non-sensitive 
like  myself,  a  man  who  has  no  hypnotic  or 
visionary  powers,  could  actually  be  made  to  see 
the  aura. 

Experts  like  the  physician  in  Harley  Street, 
whose  psychometric  powers  I  considered  in  the  last 
chapter,  can  see  the  aura  in  colours.  This  is  a  purely 
natural  and,  as  I  believe,  hereditary  gift.  One  cannot 
be  enabled  artificially  to  see  the  aura  in  colours, 
but  any  one  can  see  it  for  himself  as  a  distinct  mist  or 
halo. 

Before  the  war,  I  believe  the  firm  of  Bailliere, 
Tindall  and  Cox,  Charing  Cross,  used  to  sell  a  box, 
complete  with  all  requisites  and  instructions  for 
seeing  the  aura. 

Seeing  the  Invisible 

I  found  that  what  was  required  to  see  the  invisible 
was  to  place  the  patient  in  front  of  a  black  velvet 
curtain  opposite  to,  and  about  ten  feet  away  from, 
the  window.  A  solution  (blue)  of  dicyanin  (a  salt,  I 
believe,  of  some  ingredient  of  opium  with  cyanic 


SECOND  SIGHT  AND  APPARITIONS     139 

or  hydrocyanic  acid),*  which  could  not  be  procured 
during  the  war,  is  then  placed  between  two  flat 
sheets  of  glass  about  half  an  inch  apart,  so  as  to 
form  a  sort  of  coloured  screen,  through  which  one 
can  look.  It  is  best  about  six  inches  long.  It  is  then 
held  up  before  both  eyes  in  a  bright  window  light,  and 
one  looks  up  through  the  blue  screen  for  at  least  five 
minutes  steadily  into  the  sky.  The  screen  is  then 
laid  aside,  and  one  finds  at  once  it  has  produced 
abnormal  acuteness  of  vision,  which  lasts  an  hour 
or  two.  Print  which  previously  could  not  be  read 
without  glasses  now  requires  none. 

The  blind  is  then  drawn  down,  so  as  to  darken 
the  room,  and,  with  one's  back  to  it,  one  gazes 
steadily  at  the  patient  standing  facing  you  in  front 
of  the  black  velvet  curtain.  After  a  time  you  see  a 
striated  mist  all  round  the  body  and  extending 
nearly  six  inches.  It  does  not  ascend  as  if  it  were 
heat  exhalations,  but  stands  straight  out  in  health, 
drooping,  as  seaweed  out  of  water,  in  ill-health. 

Description  of  Aura 

I  put  my  two  hands  in  front  of  me,  and  there, 
streaming  from  my  fingers,  was  the  aura.  When  the 
tips  of  the  fingers  were  ten  inches  apart  their  auras 
touched. 

The  aura  does  not  become  visible  for  the  first 
half-inch  from  the  body.  In  a  woman  it  is  almost 
twice  the  length  of  a  man's  aura.  It  is  not  any  sort 
of  vapour,  for  it  is  the  same  whether  the  patient 
be  hot  or  cold,  and  it  never  rises.  The  aura  from 

*  Let  no  one  write  letters  to  me  inquiring  about  this  prepara- 
tion. I  can  give  no  further  information. 


i4o  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

the  tips  of  the  fingers  can  be  lengthened,  by  will 
power,  from  five  inches  to  over  a  foot  (as  I  have  seen 
by  actual  experiment).  From  my  experience  I  judge 
that  the  rays  of  the  aura  (in  common  possibly  with 
those  of  the  astral  body)  [ghosts]  are  a  little  more 
rapid  than  the  ultra-violet.  It  must  be  remembered 
that  the  rays  of  the  aura  are  not  the  only  ones  that 
are  not  visible  to  the  material  sight.  Heat  rays  of  less 
rapidity  than  250  billions  per  second  are  all  invisible. 
The  hot  iron  gives  them  off  all  the  time,  but  only 
when  it  becomes  red  are  the  rays  rapid  enough  to 
be  seen  as  colour.  The  "X"  rays  are  also  quite 
invisible  ordinarily,  though  they  can  destroy  the 
skin. 

What  is  it. 

There  is  also  evidence  that  in  all  ages  some  men 
and  women  have'been  able  to  see  many  of  these  in- 
visible rays;  for  the  aura  is  drawn  on  the  walls 
of  ruins  in  India,  Egypt,  Peru,  and  Yucatan.  In 
the  South  Kensington  Museum  are  figures  with  the 
aura  shown,  of  the  year  324  B.C. 

For  want  of  a  better  name,  one  calls  the  aura  an 
emanation  of  "nerve  force,"  natural  electricity, 
magnetism,  psychic  energy  and  the  like.  All  of 
these  are  terms  either  inaccurate  or  hopelessly 
without  meaning,  and  expressions  rather  of  our 
ignorance  than  of  our  knowledge.* 

*  Still  acuter  vision  is  said  to  see  "  thought  forms"  with  equal 
clearness,  and  Leadbeater's  interesting  book  depicts  these  in 
colours  in  great  variety.  '  Evidence  is  slowly  accumulating  to 
show  that  thoughts  as  they  leave  us  may  be  seen  as  definite 
entities,  with  shape  and  colour.  As,  however,  this  interesting 
study  is  quite  outside  our  subject,  it  will  not  be  touched  on. 


SECOND  SIGHT  AND  APPARITIONS      141 

Auras  in  Colour 

Auras  are  seen  in  over  twenty  distinct  colours  by 
a  few  and  these  are  found  to  correspond  to  the 
character  of  the  person.  My  friend  in  Harley  Street 
sees  them  very  distinctly  round  every  person  he 
meets,  all  day  long. 

A  dean's  widow,  who  lives  in  Scotland,  is  quite 
as  good,  and  she  knows  the  disposition  of  people 
by  their  aura  when  they  enter  the  room.  Her 
mother  had  the  same  power;  and  what  rather  dis- 
tresses her  is,  it  is  developing  in  her  son  of  six, 
though  she  has  never  mentioned  it  to  him.  "I 
don't  like  that  'brown'  man,"  he  said  when  a  friend 
left;*  and  at  another  time  expressed  his  approval 
of  the  "blue"  lady!  I  could  write  much  more 
on  this  interesting  and  little  known  subject  but 
refrain. 

Let  the  sceptical  reader,  however,  note  in  passing, 
that  the  facts  I  speak  of  are  well  established  among 
students  all  over  the  world. 

The  "N»  Rays 

These,  indeed,  are  the  much  discussed  "N  "  rays  of 
Dr.  Becquerel,  and  have  been  shown  to  be  rays  of 
light  a  good  deal  more  rapid  than  those  at  the  violet 
end  of  the  spectrum,  as  I  have  suggested.  They 
vary  much  in  various  diseases,  and  so  can  be  used 
in  diagnosis.  This,  I  think,  is  the  first  stage  in 
seeing  the  invisible,  and  the  only  one  that  can  be 
produced  artificially. 

When  we  go  on  further  clairvoyance  is  entirely  a 

*  I  am  always  seen  by  this  lady  in  bright  yellow;  also  by  the 
doctor  in  Harley  Street. 


142  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

natural  gift.  It  is  common  among  all  Celts  and  is 
called  "taish"  or  second  sight.  The  forty  volumes 
of  the  S.P.R.  and  the  "Phantasms  of  the  living"* 
teem  with  well-authenticated  instances. 

The  next  two  personal  examples  of  clairvoyance 
illustrate  a  remark  of  Professor  Bray's:  "We  photo- 
graph our  mental  states  on  all  the  rooms  we 
inhabit." 

Second  Sight 

A  young  friend  of  mine,  a  curate  of  a  West  End 
church,  when  dining  with  me,  said  he  had  just 
come  through  a  remarkable  experience.  On  being 
appointed  to  the  curacy  after  leaving  Oxford,  he 
took  a  small  newly-decorated  house  near  the  church, 
and  retiring  to  rest  on  the  first  night,  no  one  being 
in  the  house  but  the  two  servants,  who  were  asleep, 
he  knelt  down  to  pray  by  his  bed.  His  portmanteau 
stood  in  a  corner  of  the  newly-papered  room. 
Suddenly  he  became  acutely  conscious  of  a  presence 
in  the  room,  and  opening  his  eyes  he  saw  that  this 
portmanteau  had  disappeared,  the  new  wall-paper 
had  also  gone,  and  there  in  an  old  arm-chair  sat  a 
very  ancient  dame,  evidently  in  a  tremendous  rage. 
She  had  a  stick  in  her  hand  which  she  shook  violently 
at  him,  and  her  mouth  moved  rapidly,  for  she  was 
clearly  cursing  him,  though  no  sound  was  heard. 
Knowing  no  fear,  he  gazed  at  her  steadily,  and  saw 
her  slowly  disappear;  and  gradually  the  dirty  old 
paper  behind  her  was  replaced  by  the  new,  which 
had  vanished,  and  his.  portmanteau  reappeared 
and  all  was  as  before.  He  determined  to  get  to  the 

*  Myers  and  Gurney. 


SECOND  SIGHT  AND  APPARITIONS    143 

bottom  of  this  mystery,  and  next  morning  went  off 
to  the  house  agents.  "Now  that  I've  taken  the 
house  on  a  three  years'  lease,"  he  said, "you  may  as 
well  tell  me  what's  wrong  with  it.  Has  anything 
dreadful  happened  there?" 

Old  Lady  and  Prayer 

The  agent  looked  confused,  and  eventually  ad- 
mitted that  a  baby  had  been  murdered  in  the  bath- 
room; but  that  did  not  help  my  friend. 

He  was  then  firmly  assured  this  was  the  only 
event  of  interest  connected  with  the  house. 

Going  home  he  met  one  of  his  fellow-curates. 

"Hullo,"  said  the  curate,  "where  are  your 
diggings?" 

"I've  taken  a  house,"  said  my  friend,  "No  245, 
Victoria  Road." 

"245!  Why  that  was  on  my  beat.  I  know  that 
house  well.  I've  good  reason  to." 

Scenting  a  story,  my  friend  asked  "Why?" 

"When  I  was  on  that  district,"  was  the  reply, 
"in  that  house  lived  an  old  lady  of  an  incredible 
age.  She  was  always  upstairs  in  her  room,  and  I 
used  to  visit  her  every  week.  She  liked  my  coming, 
and  talking  and  reading  to  her;  but  if  I  attempted 
to  pray  she  got  in  a  dreadful  fury,  and  declared 
she  would  not  'be  prayed  at. '  She  slways  shook 
her  stick  at  me. ' ' 

"I  saw  her  last  night,"  said  my  friend,  "when  I 
was  praying,  and  she  shook  her  stick  at  me." 

Impressions  on  the  Ether? 

I  was  so  impressed  with  this  first-hand  story 
that  I  told  it  to  a  most  expert  occultist  whom  I 


144  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

knew  that  I  could  trust,  and  he  said,  "that  in  the 
present  state  of  scientific  knowledge  the  best  way  of 
accounting  for  these  phenomena  of  second  sight 
was  not  by  supposing  them  to  be  spirits  of  the  dead 
(or  their  astral  bodies),  but  rather  that  some  per- 
manent impression  had  been  made  on  the  'ether'  of 
the  room,  which  could  always  be  seen  by  any  with 
'second  sight, '  and  it  was  in  this  way  that  'haunted 
rooms  and  houses'  could  be  explained."  Of  course, 
all  was  pure  hypothesis,  for  even  the  "ether,"  as  I 
explained  elsewhere,  has  not  yet  been  scientifically 
proved.  I  must  add  that  my  friend  the  curate 
had  the  gift  of  "second  sight." 

At  another  time  I  was  staying  with  an  old  friend, 

a  Lady  C ,  at  her  beautiful  place  in  Cumberland, 

and  one  day  she  motored  me  over  to  a  celebrated 
show-house,  where  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of 
Commons  was  in  residence  that  year,  but  which 
we  were  still  allowed  to  see  over. 

Fighting  for  200  Years 

Lady  C ,  tired  with  the  long  drive,  sat  down  in 

the  hall  while  the  mistress  of  the  house  was  sum- 
moned. Suddenly,  with  great  agitation,  she  shouted 
to  me,  "Oh,  do  stop  those  men!  Whatever  are  they 
doing?  It's  dreadful."  pointing  with  a  shaking 
finger  to  a  corner  of  the  large  hall.  I  could  see 
nothing,  "What  is  it?  "I  said. 

"Don't  you  see  them  fighting  in  that  corner." 
she  cried,  "those  two  men?  That  old  one  is  sure 
to  kill  the  other,"  she  cried.  "Oh!  do  stop  them!" 

Just  then  the  mistress  came,   and  asked  for  the 


SECOND  SIGHT  AND  APPARITIONS     145 

cause  of  the  agitation.     When  she  was  told  she  did 
not  seem  at  all  surprised. 

"Oh,  yes,"  she  said,  "many  people  see  that, 
but  I've  never  seen  it  myself.  It  is  a  father  and  son 
who  fought  in  that  corner  about  200  years  ago,  and 
some  who  come  see  them  fighting  still!" 

The  Vision  of  a  Monk 

We  went  upstairs  into  the  fine  library,  with  its 
lovely  views  all  over  the  Eden  valley,  and  Lady  C — 
sat  down  at  the  end  of  the  table  in  the  Speaker's 
usual  seat.     He  was  away  at  the  time. 

"Whatever  is  that  young  man  doing  by  the  door?" 
she  said  to  me. 

' '  What  young  man  ? "  I  asked. 

"Why,  don't  you  see  him  in  that  brown  cloak? 
He  looks  like  a  monk,  and  he  keeps  putting  his  hand 
out  to  the  wall  as  if  he  were  trying  to  take  books  out 
of  it." 

"No,"  I  said,  "I  see  nothing."  So  I  went  to  the 
lady,  who  was  standing  at  the  other  end  of  the  room 
and  told  her  of  the  apparition. 

"Oh,  yes,"  she  said,  "that's  a  young  monk  who 
lived  here  a  long  time  ago.  I'll  show  you  his  portrait 
in  the  next  room.  People  often  see  him.  He's 
taking  books  off  the  shelf.  There  used  to  be  book- 
shelves right  up  to  the  door  where  he  is  standing, 
but  they've  long  been  taken  away." 

The  Gift  of  Second  Sight 

Here,  then,  are  interesting  cases  of  clairvoyance 
personally  known  to  me.     I  may  say  that  Lady  C — 
has  the  gift  of  "second  sight,"  and  is  a  clever  and 


146  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

interesting  lady,  very  practical,  and  full  of  good 
works. 

The  above  are  instances  of  apparitions  seen  by 
those  possessed  of  "second  sight,"  and  who  on 
many  occasions  have  seen  the  invisible. 

There  are,  however,  many  other  cases  of  appari- 
tions that  have  appeared  to  ordinary  people, 
who  have  no  such  gifts,  and  who  perhaps  have  had 
but  one  such  vision  in  the  course  of  their  life. 

Apparition  to  Non-Clairvoyants 

The  apparition  I  am  about  to  record  impressed  me 
very  much,  being  that  of  my  own  brother.  The 
ladies  to  whom  he  appeared  had  never  seen  a  vision 
before,  and  had  no  gift  of  "second  sight,"  and.  so 
far  as  I  know,  never  saw  an  apparition  again. 
They  were  not  in  the  least  frightened,  but  very  sad, 
at  the  supposed  loss  of  their  sister,  who  is  still  alive, 
though  both  her  sisters  have  died. 

Many  years  ago  my  brother,  an  Oxford  scholar 
and  a  missionary,  died  suddenly  in  inland  China 
from  typhus  fever,  caught  from  a  patient  whom 
the  porter  had  admitted,  after  being  forbidden  to 
do  so,  into  his  hospital  at  Tai-yuen-fu  in  Shansi.* 
The  night  he  died  he  was  seen  at  the  foot  of  the 
beds  of  two  of  his  wife's  sisters,  who  were  stationed 
in  different  parts  of  India.  They  wrote  to  each 
other  about  it,  and  agreed  that  he  must  have 
appeared  to  tell  them  of  their  sister's  death,  who 
was  in  delicate  health  at  the  time;  never  dreaming 
it  was  my  brother  who  had  been  taken  away.  It 
is  significant  that  both  took  the  apparition  as  a 

*Now  rebuilt  as  the  "Schofield  Memorial  Hospital." 


SECOND  SIGHT  AND  APPARITIONS    147 

matter  of  course,  and  also  that  a  third  sister,  my 
wife,  saw  no  vision  at  all.  None  of  the  three  was 
"clairvoyant." 

It  was  not  till  many  weeks  after,  by  way  of  England, 
they  learned  my  brother  had  died  that  night,  and 
that  their  sister  was  well. 

Apparitions  Common 

Maeterlinck  says,  "  Neo-spiritism  or  scientific 
spiritism  maintains  that  the  dead  do  not  die  entirely. 
That  their  spirit  and  animistic  entity  (soul)  con- 
tinues an  active  existence." 

The  naivete  of  all  this  is  striking,  when  what  has 
been  the  cherished  faith  of  Christendom  during  the 
whole  of  our  era  should  be  now  announced  as  a  new 
and  somewhat  doubtful  discovery,  and  so  quoted 
by  a  brilliant  modern  writer. 

These  apparitions,  of  which  I  have  given  an  in- 
stance, are  very  common  within  one  week  of  the 
death  of  the  person. 

Mrs.  Sidgwick  received,  in  answer  to  an  inquiry, 
17,000  replies  from  people  who  had  seen  them;  and 
Mr.  Gurney,  joint  author  with  Mr.  Myers  of  "Phan- 
tasms of  the  Living,"  6,000. 

Apparitions  before  Death 

After  years  of  investigation  the  S.P.R.  reported 
that  between  death  and  apparitions  after  death  of 
the  same  person,  or  before  death  apparitions  to  the 
dying,  there  exists  a  connection  not  due  to  chance. 

Evidence,  indeed,  seems  indisputable  that,  just 
before  death,  a  glimpse  of  loved  ones  is  often  given 
to  the  dying  person.  And  it  is  equally  certain  that 


148  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

shortly  after  death  the  form  of  the  dead  person 
(astral  body?)  appears  to  relatives  and  friends  at  a 
distance. 

It  is  stated  scientifically,  on  what  authority  I 
know  not,  with  regard  to  this,  that  the  production 
of  genuine  apparitions  (unconsciously  and  involun- 
tarily) resembling  the  person  they  profess  to  re- 
present is  a  possibility  within  the  range  of  psychic 
power;  in  other  words,  that  it  can  be  projected 
subjectively  by  the  seer's  own  unconscious 
mind.  At  best  this  is  but  a  surmise,  and  we  require 
to  advance  a  good  way  before  it  will  be  established 
as  a  fact. 

Trend  of  Psychic  Advance 

Facts,  however  strange,  have  to  be  admitced  on 
sufficient  evidence.  How  they  are  produced,  and 
all  questions  relating  to  cause  and  effect,  and  the 
formation  of  hypotheses,  must  be  most  .tentatively 
advanced  and  never  used  as  dogmas.  The  present 
trend  of  all  psychic  progress  is  doubtless  to 
show  that  countless  facts  which  we  were  certain 
were  objective  (i.e.,  produced  by  others)  are  one 
and  all  subjective  (i.e.,  produced  unconsciously  by 
ourselves) . 

The  next  case'  is  quite  different  and  raises  the 
question  of  the  pre-existence  of  the  future.  To  our 
minds  it  seems,  when  we  consider  it,  equally  difficult 
to  believe  it  does  not  pre-exist  as  to  believe  that  it 
does. 

The  wife  of  a  clergyman  at  Folkestone  was  an 
old  patient  of  mine,  a  member  of  a  well-known 
English  family,  and  one  gifted  with  a  certain  amount 


SECOND  SIGHT  AND  APPARITIONS    149 

of  "second  sight."     She  wrote  and  asked  me  a  very 
curious  question. 

Seeing  the  Future 

"Can  you  tell  me  why  God  allows  me  to  see  the 
future,  but  in  such  a  way  that  I  cannot  help  the 
friends  I  know?  I  will  give  you  three  instances 
of  what  I  mean." 

Of  these  I  will  briefly  record  two. 

"The  other  day,"  she  wrote,  "I  saw  myself 
standing  by  the  side  of  a  steep  hill  I  knew  well, 
near  Folkestone,  and  a  car  full  of  ladies  dashed  past 
me.  At  the  bottom  of  the  hill,  on  the  main  road, 
was  a  cart  going  slowly  along  full  of  stones,  and  the 
motor  dashed  into  it,  and  the  people  were  thrown 
out  and  apparently  hurt. 

"Now,  as  they  passed  me  they  were  all  looking 
the  other  way,  and  I  could  not  see  their  faces. 

Useless  Foresight 

"A  fortnight  after  I  saw  in  the  papers  that  a 
party  of  my  friends,  going  down  that  very  hill,  had 
met  with  the  very  accident  I  saw,  but  could  not 
prevent,  because  their  faces  were  turned  away. 
Why  was  this?" 

She  said  that  she  generally  saw  things  about 
a  fortnight  before  they  happened. 

The  other  case  was  that  of  a  lady  she  saw  driving 
in  a  victoria,  but  the  lady  had  her  parasol  over  her 
face,  so  that  my  patient  could  not  see  it  as  she  drove 
past  her  in  the  vision.  Just  then  a  hansom  cab 
drove  up  and  dashed  into  the  carriage,  throwing  the 


150  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

lady  out,  whose  face  was  still  invisible,  and  she  broke 
her  arm.  My  friend  watched  the  papers,  but  no  such 
incident  was  recorded  anywhere.  She  then  had  to  go 
to  Westgate-on-Sea,  and  about  a  week  later  took 
up  the  Daily  Mail,  and  there  was  the  accident  to  the 
wife  of  the  pastor  of  the  City  Temple  fully  described, 
exactly  as  seen  three  weeks  before,  and  the  result — 
a  broken  arm.  But  this  unfortunate  lady  was  one 
of  my  patient's  dearest  friends.  "Why,  then,"  she 
asks,  "did  she  have  her  parasol  over  her  face  so 
that  I  could  not  see  and  warn  her?" 

Visions  of  Future  Common 

It  is  quite  evident  from  innumerable  instances, 
very  many  from  the  Highlands,  that  future  events 
are  often  seen  before  they  happen,  but  in  a  truly 
perplexing  way;  for  it  seems  to  do  no  good.  If  it 
did,  and  any  accident  were  averted,  then  the  vision 
would  be  false,  for  it  would  show  what,  after  all, 
never  occurred.  I  don't  pursue  the  perplexing  subject, 
as  I  am  writing  on  ' '  Spiritism ' '  and  not  on  ' '  Second 
Sight." 

I  merely  give  these  instances  that  we  may  better 
understand  that  we  are  surrounded  with  mysteries, 
and  that  many  of  us  possess  special  faculties,  which, 
developed  as  they  doubtless  are  in  mediums,  may 
go  far  to  explain  much  that  puzzles  us  in  seances, 
and  which  we  at  present  believe,  perhaps  erroneously, 
to  be  the  work  of  "spirits." 

Turning  from  "second  sight,"  I  will  now  give  a 
remarkable  and  perplexing  instance  of  clair-audience, 
a  kindred  faculty  to  clairvoyance. 


SECOND  SIGHT  AND  APPARITIONS    151 

Clairaudience 

Professor  Hyslop  tells  us  of  a  woman  who  felt 
something  vague  was  going  to  happen  that  she 
dreaded.  Then  after  a  month,  when  she  was  sitting 
sewing  at  a  garment  for  her  child,  she  heard  a  voice 
saying,  "She'll  never  need  it."  Then  a  week  before 
the  child  died  the  mother  thought  there  was  a 
smell  of  fire  and  got  very  careful  that  matches  should 
not  be  left  about.  Then,  only  one  hour  before  the 
fatal  event,  she  suddenly  determines  to  destroy  all 
the  nursery  matches. 

"She  takes  the  child  up  to  its  cot  for  its  morning 
sleep,  and  once  more  hears  the  voice,  'Turn  the 
mattress.'  She  says  she  will,  as  soon  as  the  child 
has  had  its 'nap.  So  she  goes  down  the  stairs  and 
soon  after  hears  a  cry. 

"She  rushes  up,  finds  the  child  on  fire,  and  it  dies 
in  her  arms. 

"Just  too  little  information  to  make  it  effective! 
And  yet  this  story  is  only  one  out  of  a  hundred  such. 
The  solution  is  equally  difficult,  whether  we  regard 
the  messages  as  from  one's  own  unconscious 
mind,  or  from  departed  spirits,  or  from  other  spirit 
agencies. 

What  is  the  Use? 

"Of  whom  is  sport  being  made?  Is  the  future 
unavoidable  ?  If  so,  why  speak  of  it  at  all  ? 

"Either  they  truly  foretell  an  event  with  some 
fatal  omission,  which  makes  the  telling  of  it  useless, 
or  they  give  details,  and  we  avail  ourselves  of  the 
warning,  and  show  they  did  not  truly  foretell  the 
future." 


iS2  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

No  doubt  the  problem  is  not  really  so  insoluble 
as  it  appears  at  first  sight.  Still,  the  whole  matter  is 
deeply  mysterious,  and  will,  I  think,  reward  con- 
tinued patient  investigation. 

I  will  now  close  with  one  or  two  illustrations  of 
warnings  that  were  not  futile,  and  I  think,  if  the 
whole  subject  could  be  tabulated,  it  would  be  found 
that,  after  all,  the  number  of  warnings  that  saved  life 
or  health  are  more  numerous  than  those  of  Professor 
Hyslop's  class,  just  narrated. 

Useful  Warnings 

Maeterlinck  tells  us  of  Jean  Dupre,  the  sculptor, 
who  was  driving  with  his  wife,  when  suddenly  on 
the  edge  of  a  cliff  they  heard  a  voice,  "Stop!"  They 
turned  and  saw  no  one,  but  the  cry  was  repeated, 
and  at  last  the  sculptor  saw  the  left  wheel  of  the 
gig  had  lost  its  linch-pin  and  was  on  the  point  of 
leaving  the  axle,  when  they  would  have  gone  over 
the  precipice." 

Was  this  voice  subjective  or  objective?  Per- 
sonally I  can  testify  that  there  are  times  when  it  is 
impossible  to  decide  this  question  which  looks  so 
simple.  I  have  heard  a  voice  call  me  and  speak  as 
clearly  as  if  it  were  objective,  and  have  asked  the 
friend  with  me  if  he  had  called  out,  and  found  he  had 
said  and  heard  nothing,  and  the  voice  was  from  my 
own  mind,  and  in  this  case  had  no  meaning.  I 
thought  carefully  over  this  instance,  and  came  to  the 
conclusion  that  the  imaginary  voice  was  not  like 
an  idea,  but  had  the  full  sound  of  a  real,  strong  voice. 
I  am  firmly  of  opinion  that  imaginary  sights  and 
sounds  of  what  isn't  to  be  seen  or  heard  are  often 


SECOND  SIGHT  AND  APPARITIONS    153 

perfectly  indistinguishable  from  real  objective  vision 
and  hearing.     The  two  are  identical. 

To  What  are  They  Due? 

Maeterlinck  also  inquires,  "Are  these  warnings 
due  to  subliminal  consciousness  or  are  they  spirit 
warnings?"  We  cannot  always  tell. 

One  can,  of  course,  only  judge  by  the  facts  in 
each  case.  In  the  case  of  Dupre*  the  warning  was 
clearly  providential,  and  one  must  judge  that  it  was 
objective,  in  common  with  other  visions.  Joan  of 
Arc,  with  her  well-authenticated  "voices,"  that 
altered  the  destiny  of  France,  is  a  widely  known 
example. 

Irresistible  Impulse 

"Although,"  says  Maeterlinck  (I  think  too 
sweepingly),  "these  premonitions  are  generally 
futile,  they  are  not  always  so.  A  traveller  approaches 
an  unknown  town  in  the  dark,  and  suddenly  feels 
an  irresistible  impulse  (on  the  road)  to  turn  (his 
horse);  he  obeys,  and  next  day  discovers  had  he 
gone  a  few  feet  further  on,  he  would  have  slipped 
into  the  river,  and  probably  been  drowned. 

"A  traveller  in  South  America  descends  a  river 
in  a  canoe;  the  party  are  just  about  to  sail  round  a 
promontory,  when  a  mysterious  voice  orders  them 
at  once  to  cross  to  the  other  side  of  the  river;  this 
appears  so  absurd  that  he  has  to  threaten  the 
Indians  with  death,  to  force  them  to  do  it;  but  they 
have  scarcely  got  half-way  across  when  the  pro- 
montory falls  at  the  very  spot  where  they  meant  to 
round  it." 


iS4  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

Dr.  Hodgson,  the  protector  of  Mrs.  Piper  in 
America,  the  Spiritist  we  have  so  often  spoken  of, 
tells  us  of  a  dentist  bending  over  a  bench  where  he 
was  vulcanising  some  rubber  with  copper,  and  hearing 
a  voice  saying,  "Run  to  the  window,  quick!" 
he  ran  to  the  window,  when  suddenly  there  was  a 
tremendous  report,  and,  looking  round,  he  saw  that 
the  copper  had  exploded,  destroying  all  that  part  of 
the  work-room. 

Many  in  Great  War 

I  will  not  repeat  thrilling  stories  of  similar  occur- 
rences in  the  Great  War,  such  as  that  of  the  "Angels 
at  Mons"  and  many  others,  as  I  feel  I  have  said 
enough  fully  to  present  the  subject  of  sights  and 
sounds  that  do  not  exist,  though  seen  and  heard, 
both  by  those  with  "second  sight,"  and  by  ordinary 
people — some  proving  futile,  others  of  the  greatest 
value.  It  will  be  noted,  however,  that  in  every 
instance  that  is  of  value  the  future  is  not  shown,  so 
that  the  action  taken  does  not  invalidate  the  picture 
or  message  given. 

I  confess  the  whole  subject  is  still  enshrouded  in 
the  deepest  mystery.  Fortunately,  my  object  here 
is  not  so  much  to  account  for  the  phenomena  as  to 
establish  the  facts. 


CHAPTER  IX 

COLLECTIVE  HYPNOSIS 

The  Brass  Plate 

HALLUCINATIONS  are  one  of  the  commonest  forms 
of  self-deception,  and  are  often  extremely  difficult 
to  explain  or  to  account  for.  A  cousin  of  mine,  a 
fleet  surgeon  in  the  navy  all  through  the  war,  and 
now  working  for  the  Admiralty,  called  last  June, 
and  in  course  of  conversation  told  me  that  a  great 
friend  of  mine,  a  Scotch  physician  who  lived  near, 
had  just  taken  Sir  Victor  Horsley's  old  house  in 
Cavendish  Square.  I  was  much  surprised,  and  said 
I  had  only  seen  him  in  Harley  Street  that  day,  and 
had  heard  nothing  of  it,  and  I  asked  him  how  he 
knew. 

"Well,"  he  said,  "I  was  coming  to  you  and 
crossed  through  the  Square,  and  saw  a  brass  plate 
on  Sir  Victor's  old  house,  and  out  of  curiosity  I 
went  up  and  read  it,  and  there  was  your  friend's 
name  on  his  door-plate." 

When  he  had  gone  away  I  went  to  see  if  it  were 
true.  I  found  the  house  on  the  side  of  the  Square 
next  to  Oxford  Street.  The  door  and  whole  building 
were  dilapidated,  and  no  sign  of  a  brass  plate  any- 
where. I  met  the  Scotch  doctor,  who  said  he  had  no 
intention  of  moving  from  Harley  Street,  and  never 


1 56  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

had.  One  month  afterwards  my  grandson  in  the 
artillery,  and  stationed  at  Winchester,  came  up  to 
town,  a  rare  event  for  him.  He  knew  nothing  of 
what  I  have  narrated,  and  came  direct  from  the 
station  to  me;  nor  did  he  know  of  my  doctor  friend. 

Daylight  Hallucination 

We  had  a  long  chat,  and  then,  thinking  it  would 
interest  him,  I  told  him  of  my  cousin's  statement,  and 
that  I  had  found  it  was  not  true.  "What  name  did 
he  see?"  he  asked.  "Dr.  Blair  Campbell,"  I  replied. 

"Well,"  he  said,  "it's  very  curious,  but  you  are 
wrong.  I've  just  come  through  the  Square,  and 
reading  the  plates  as  I  passed,  there  was  the  name  of 
Dr.  Blair  Campbell  as  large  as  life."  "Where?"  I 
said,  greatly  mystified.  "On  the  far  side  of  Caven- 
dish Square,  next  Oxford  Street.  It  was  on  the  right- 
hand  side  of  the  door,  on  a  small  brass  plate,  and 
there  was  no  other  name." 

"Well,"  I  said,  "that  man  is  a  friend  of  mine, 
and  I  must  see  what  all  this  means,  for  I'm  sure 
there  is  no  such  name  there." 

We  went  out  together.  He  was  absolutely  con- 
fident, and  said  he  was  prepared  to  make  an  affidavit 
before  any  judge  that  the  plate  was  there.  However, 
though  we  inspected  every  door,  there  was  no  such 
plate,  and  Sir  Victor's  house  was  still  untouched 
since  his  death  in  Mesopotamia. 

No  Solution 

So  far  I  have  received  no  solution  of  this  hallucina- 
tion. It  is  only  one  of  an  innumerable  series,  and 
shows  how  fallacious  our  ordinary  vision  may  be. 


COLLECTIVE  HYPNOSIS  157 

Pepper's  ghost,  and  the  marvels  of  a  sheet  of 
clean  glass  on  a  darkened  stage,  gave  some  a  nasty 
shock  at  the  time  as  to  the  reliability  .of  their  senses; 
but  here  in  broad  daylight,  by  some  unknown  agency, 
the  same  hallucination  absolutely  deceives  two  men 
in  perfect  health  at  different  times.* 

Seance  Conditions 

When  we  consider  the  darkened  room,  the  droning 
hymns,  the  tightly  grasped  hands,  the  eager  expecta- 
tion, the  intense  desire  to  see  something,  that  pos- 
sesses all  alike,  and  the  predisposition  of  the  class 
of  people  most  frequently  found  in  Spiritist  circles, 
one  begins  to  wonder,  and  I  suggest,  not  after  all 
without  reason,  whether  the  apparitions  and 
materialisations  seen  in  the  dim  light,  and  believed  in 
with  the  utmost  certainty,  may  not  in  some  cases, 
in  a  manner,  I  quite  own,  as  yet  imperfectly  under- 
stood, prove  to  be  some  form  of  hallucination  ? 

After  all  it  is  much  easier  to  believe  that  such  may 
be  the  case,  in  such  favourable  conditions,  than  that 
the  same  hallucination  was  possible  to  two  separate 
individuals  in  the  heart  of  London,  at  different 
times,  in  the  open  air  and  bright  light  of  a  summer 
morning. 

But  there  is  more  than  this,  as  will  be  seen,  in  the 
title  of  this  chapter. 

Power  in  Crowds 

There  is  the  power  of  crowds.  Once  these  can  be 
pervaded  by  a  common  thought,  or  a  common 
object,  they  tend  to  fuse,  to  lose  their  individuality, 

*  The  S.P.R.  are  kindly  investigating  this  case. 


i58  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

and  to  become  more  or  less  as  one  gigantic  person- 
ality, of  great  danger  for  evil,  or  of  great  power  for 
good.  Such  a  condition  can  be  produced  by  a 
powerful  orator  (by  what  is  called  "magnetic 
power")  in  full  daylight,  and  in  the  open  air;  by 
a  less  powerful  one  in  a  tent.  The  condition  really 
becomes  hypnotic,  reason  is  in  abeyance,  and  what- 
ever is  presented  to  the  collective  mind  seems 
objective  to  the  senses,  and  thus  sights  are  seen, 
and  sounds  are  heard  (hallucinations,  as  in  the  rope 
trick),  that  are  merely  the  projection,  objectively, 
of  ideas  that  obsess  the  mind  when  in  this  condition, 
which  may  fairly  be  called  "collective  hypnotism." 
Semi-darkness,  crooned  hymns,  absolute  contact 
between  every  member  of  the  crowd,  stillness,  and 
a  powerful  common  interest  seldom  fail  in  pro- 
ducing this  condition,  as  we  shall  see.  I  will  proceed 
later  on  to  record  the  most  remarkable  illustration 
of  this  somewhat  rare  state  that  it  has  been  my  lot 
to  see. 

Collective  Hypnotism 

Collective  hypnotism  is  a  subject  but  little  known, 
and  was  first  explained  to  me  by  Dr.  Milne  Bramwell 
some  years  ago.  At  that  time  he  was  practising  in 
Wimpole  Street  and  seeing  large  numbers  of  patients 
requiring  hypnotic  treatment  daily.  For  the  benefit 
of  the  uninitiated  I  may  explain  that  the  modern 
treatment  does  not  in  the  least  depend  on  inducing 
artificial  sleep,  nor  is  it  connected  in  the  smallest 
degree  with  the  spirit  world  or  the  occult.  On  the 
contrary,  it  may  be  claimed  that  the  modus  operandi 
is  based  on  the  laws  of  nature  and  is  now  fairly  well 


COLLECTIVE  HYPNOSIS  159 

known,  since  the  discovery  of  the  un-  or  sub- 
conscious mind.  The  whole  procedure  tends  to 
impress  deeply  on  the  patient's  subliminal  (Myers) 
mind,  beneficial  suggestions  calculated  to  restore 
the  patient  to  health.  So  far  there  does  not  seem 
to  be  much  connection  between  this  science  and 
Spiritism.  But  "collective  hypnotism,"  at  any  rate, 
has  a  very  close  connection  indeed  with  Spiritist 
seances,  as  I  shall  proceed  to  demonstrate,  and  may 
possibly  be  a  key  to  much  more. 

Dr.  Bramwell's  Demonstration 

My  only  regret  is  that  I  was  not  myself  present 
when  the  following  demonstration  took  place,  but  I 
can  vouch  for  the  substantial  accuracy  of  the  record. 
It  must  be  premised  that  by  "Collective  hypno- 
tism" I  mean  the  sub-conscious  power  that  persuades 
crowds  assembled  for  some  common  purpose  to 
believe  they  saw  what  was  suggested  to  them,  but 
which  was  really  not  to  be  seen;  or  that  they  heard 
what  was  not  to  be  heard,  if  suggested  to  them  at 
the  time;  but  to  pome  to  my  record. 

Dr.  Bramwell  was  busy  with  his  patients  one 
morning  when  a  doctor  friend  called  in,  who  was 
much  interested  in  hypnotism.  Dr.  Bramwell  told 
him  that  if  he  would  like  to  see  an  exhibition  of 
"collective  hypnotism,"  as  his  waiting  room  was 
full  of  patients  in  a  favourable  condition  for  the 
experiment,  he  would  probably  be  able  greatly  to 
interest  him. 

The  Turk  on  the  Table 

The  visitor,  naturally,  was  only  too  glad  of  the 
rare  opportunity,  and  as  the  two  doctors  entered 


160  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

the  waiting  room  all  the  patients  looked  up.  "Ha," 
exclaimed  Dr.  Bramwell,  "whoever  is  that  sitting 
cross-legged  on  the  table?"  and  pointing  to  nothing 
with  great  earnestness  and  excitement.  "Why,  I 
declare  it's  a  Turk  with  his  scarlet  fez,  smoking  a  long 
pipe."  "Look,  doctor!  Look!"  he  almost  shouted. 
"He  is  rising!  Can  you  see?  Look  under  him. 
You  can  now  see  the  light  between  him  and  the 
table!"  The  visitor  bent  his  head  to  look,  and 
several  of  the  patients  did  the  same. 

"Now,  now,"  he  called  out  excitedly,  "his  head 
almost  touches  the  ceiling!  There,  he  has  touched 
it !  He  can't  get  any  higher !  Yes,  he  can !  There ! 
his  head  is  going  through  the  ceiling !  Look,  doctor !" 
he  shouted.  The  visitor  stared  up,  and  so  did  every 
one  in  the  room,  as  Dr.  Bramwell  graphically 
described  the  Turk  slowly  and  gradually  disappear- 
ing through  the  ceiling,  till  at  last  his  feet  were  gone. 
"He's  vanished!"  said  Dr.  Bramwell.  "Come 
along;"  and  he  took  the  visitor  back  into  his  con- 
sulting room. 

The  Danger 

"Now,"  he  said,  "I  want  you  to  understand  the 
importance  of  what  you  have  just  witnessed.  All 
in  that  room  are  perfectly  certain  they  have  seen  a 
Turk  sitting,  smoking,  cross-legged,  on  my  dining 
table,  and  then  slowly  rise  and  disappear  through 
the  ceiling;  and  what  is  more,  one  and  all  would  on 
their  oath  testify  to  the  supposed  fact  before  any 
magistrate  in  perfect  good  faith." 

In  this  way  things  may  be  truthfully  sworn  to 
that  never  occurred,  and  thus  the  condition  may 


COLLECTIVE  HYPNOSIS  161 

easily  produce  situations  of  great  danger  and  induce 
many  beliefs  in  fictitious  phenomena.  There  is  little 
doubt  that  the  condition  tends  to  prevail,  more  or 
less,  in  large  crowds  in  proportion  as  they  are  of  one 
heart  and  mind.  The  testimony  of  thousands  in 
India  has  been  given  to  a  phenomenon  that  never 
occurred.  These  have  asserted  they  have  seen  a  boy 
throw  the  end  of  a  long  rope  up  into  the  air,  where 
it  became  rigid,  and  climb  up  it  and  disappear,  being 
afterwards  found  in  the  crowd. 

Seance  in  Regent's  Park 

Perhaps  one  of  the  most  remarkable  displays  of  the 
power  of  "collective  hypnotism"  occurred  at  a  seance 
at  which  I  was  present,  and  can  therefore  vouch  for 
the  truth  of  the  smallest  details.  It  was  not  long  be- 
fore Mr.  Stead's  death  that  I  heard  that  most  wonder- 
ful manifestations  had  taken  place  at  his  house  at 
Wimbledon  before  himself  and,  I  believe,  Sir  Oliver 
Lodge  and  others,  where  a  materialisation  of  a  spirit 
took  place,  and  he  saw  standing  in  the  room  before  him 
a  dear  member  of  his  family,  who  had  died  shortly 
before.  Of  the  fact  he  appeared  to  have  no  doubt 
whatever;  and  the  event  made  such  a  deep  impres- 
sion upon  him,  that  with  such  wonderful  mediums  as 
the  man  and  his  wife  (from  America)  who  had  operated, 
he  though  it  a  favourable  opportunity  to  restore  the 
(at  that  time)  somewhat  fading  belief  in  Spiritism* 
by  producing  in  London,  before  a  distinguished 
audience,  phenomena  wholly  supernatural  that 
could  not  be  gainsaid. 

*  This    was    before  "Raymond,"  or  Sir  A.  Conan  Doyle. 

M.S.  II 


162  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

I  Attend  Officially 

I  may  say  I  had  known  Mr.  Stead  for  many  years, 
through  evil  and  good  report,  and  was  not  therefore 
in  the  least  surprised  to  see  him  one  day  at  Harley 
Street.  He  told  me  of  this  forthcoming  effort,  of 
the  wonderful  demonstration  at  his  own  house, 
and  said  he  now  required  the  services  of  four  phy- 
sicians from  Harley  Street  on  the  following  Friday 
to  carefully  and  privately  examine  the  two  mediums, 
and  thus  effectively  guard  against  fraud. 

I  had  to  read  a  paper  on  the  following  Monday 
at  the  Philosophic  Institute  on  "The  Borderland"; 
and  hoping  I  might  learn  something  of  value, 
though  I  refused  at  first,  I  consented  eventually  to 
attend  and  examine  one  of  the  mediums  in  private, 
with  another  physician.  On  the  Friday  I  met  the 
other  doctor  at  a  large  house  in  the  neighborhood, 
and  soon  the  mediums  arrived.  The  man  was  met 
at  the  front  door,  taken  by  two  doctors  into  the 
pantry,  stripped  and  examined,  and  then  dressed  in 
an  old  suit  of  the  footman's  and  kept  isolated  in  the 
room.  The  woman  was  taken  to  the  top  of  the  house, 
carefully  examined  at  her  own  request  for  any  con- 
cealed apparatus,  etc.,  and  re-dressed  in  a  skirt, 
blouse,  stockings  and  shoes  only,  and  kept  alone  in 
the  bedroom.  She  never  saw  her  husband  till  after 
the  stance. 

Remarkable  Audience 

In  the  large  drawing-room  a  "cabinet"  in  the 
corner  was  prepared  by  two  screens  with  a  broad 
space  between,  over  which  a  pole  and  curtains 
were  fixed,  and  inside  the  only  thing  was  a  chair 


COLLECTIVE  HYPNOSIS  163 

from  the  kitchen.  The  company  was  by  invitation 
only,  and  was  large  and  distinguished,  including  men 
and  women  of  the  highest  rank,  the  greatest  experts, 
psychologists  from  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  intelli- 
gent men  and  women  known  all  over  the  world,* 
all  earnest  inquirers  after  "truth."  One  and  all 
were  satisfied  that  there  was  no  opening  for  fraud 
or  trickery,  neither  the  mediums  nor  audience  having 
ever  been  in  the  house  before. 

The  woman  then  entered  the  room  between  two 
doctors,  of  whom  I  was  one,  and  was  placed  in  the 
"cabinet"  behind  the  curtains,  on  the  chair.  The 
husband  was  then  brought  in  and  seated  amidst  the 
crowded  audience.  Mr.  Stead  had  a  chair  near  the 
screen,  while  I  sat  facing  the  entrance  to  the 
"cabinet"  through  the  curtains,  and  looked  round 
on  the  eager  circles  of  well-known  faces  with  interest. 
We  were  then  directed  to  join  hands,  and  did  so;  but 
this  was  not  enough,  so  we  took  off  our  gloves,  and 
our  bare  hands  were  clasped  together  for  over  two 
hours,  f  To  increase  the  (hypnotic)  effect  the  room 
was  darkened,  and  in  the  gloom  American  revival 
hymns  were  crooned,  somewhat  discordantly  ("Shall 
we  meet  beyond  the  river,"  etc.,  etc.),  by  grave 
and  distinguished  men  of  science!  A  hoarse  voice 
then  shouted  from  the  "cabinet"  (the  woman)  that 
"the  colonel"  said  the  conditions  were  not  yet  right: 

*  I  am  only  sorry  I  cannot  give  the  names  of  those  present, 
when  it  would  be  seen  that  the  events  I  shall  narrate  must  be 
absolutely  incredible,  unless  such  an  audience  were  under  some 
unknown  force,  such  as  "collective  hypnotism." 

t  Nothing  tends  so  to  produce  one  common  thought  and 
feeling,  as  to  form  a  circle  and  establish  contact  by  clasping  each 
other's  bare  hands. 


164  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

The  First  Sensation 

At  this  stage  the  first  dramatic  sensation  of  the  after- 
noon occurred,  and  to  this  I  beg  close  attention.  The 
husband  (in  the  footman's  suit)  suddenly  rose  from 
among  the  audience,  and  said,  with  a  strong  American 
twang,  "Before  our  stance  begins,  ladies  and  gentle- 
men, I  should  like  you  all  to  understand  that  we 
are  NOT  mediums,  we  are  professional  entertainers. 
We  make  no  claim  whatever  to  powers  from  the 
spirit  world,  of  which  we  know  nothing.  But  we 
shall  produce  such  phenomena  here  this  afternoon 
that  I  hereby  offer  the  sum  of  one  hundred  pounds 
to  any  London  hospital  to  any  one  who  can  produce 
the  same  phenomena  under  the  same  conditions." 

One  would  have  thought  that  the  dropping  of 
such  a  bombshell  in  such  an  audience  would  have 
broken  up  the  stance  in  confusion  and  indignation. 
Not  a  bit  of  it.  The  hymns,  the  close  and  darkened 
room,  the  tightly  clasped  hands,  had  already  done 
their  work  and  produced  a  certain  amount  of 
collective  hypnotic  apathy  and  credulity  in  an 
audience  that  was  rapidly  losing,  for  a  time,  its  power 
of  independent  thought. 

Mr.  Stead's  Explanation 

Mr.  Stead  rose  at  once  and  explained  what  had 
occurred  at  his  house,  and  said  that  "he  knew  the 
speaker  and  his  wife,  and  that,  quite  unknown  to 
themselves,  they  really  were  most  remarkable  mediums. 
No  notice  need  therefore  be  taken  of  the  man's 
words.  Not  only  so,  but  he  had  only  that  day 
received  an  important  communication  from  Mr. 
F.  W.  H.  Myers  (who  has  'passed  over')  to  the 


COLLECTIVE  HYPNOSIS  165 

effect  that  he  was  watching  this  particular  stance 
with  the  deepest  interest,  and  that  it  would  prove 
very  remarkable."  Moreover,  Mr.  Stead  pointed 
out  the  unprecedented  precautions  against  all 
fraud;  so  we  might  know  that  all  that  we  saw 
would  be  genuine.  I  was  stunned,  and  looked  at  all 
the  undisturbed  faces  with  amazement,  until  I 
recalled  Dr.  Bramwell's  demonstration,  and  then  I 
began  to  understand  why  NO  ONE  spoke  or  moved, 
or  even  smiled. 

We  Enter  the  Cabinet 

Still  the  "spirits"  were  obdurate,  and  the  man 
complained  there  was  not  sufficient  magnetism  in 
the  room.  So  it  was  suggested  that  while  we  were 
waiting  for  the  "power"  we  should  enter  the 
cabinet  in  couples,  holding  each  other's  hands,  to 
see  there  was  no  fraud  (!)  and  that  the  medium 
alone  was  there — who,  of  course,  had  heard  all 
that  transpired.  It  was  obvious  to  me  that  such  a 
move  gave  any  confederate  in  the  audience  the 
needed  opportunity  to  introduce  anything  wished 
for  into  the  "cabinet."  However,  we  went,  two  by 
two,  with  great  solemnity  and  returned  to  our  seats, 
assuring  Mr.  Stead  we  had  seen  nothing  inside  but 
the  woman.  When  it  was  my  turn  to  go  in,  I  said  to 
her  "Do  your  best";  and  in  a  strong  accent,  similar 
to  her  husband's,  she  replied,  "Oh,  that's  all  right. 
I'll  give  you  a  good  show." 

The  Materialisation 

We  then  sung  another  hymn  or  jubilee  song,  while 
the  gas  was  lowered  still  further;  and  then in  the 


1 66  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

gloom,  on  the  floor  just  where  the  curtains  met,  I  saw 
what  looked  like  a  pool  of  quicksilver.  This  slowly 
climbed  up  as  the  curtains  parted,  until  at  last  I 
realised  that  what  I  saw  was  a  silvery  foot  and  leg 
(evidently  luminous  paint).  There  was  no  mist  or 
indistinctness;  all  had  a  hard,  sharp  outline,  though 
dimly  seen.  Slowly  the  curtains  kept  on  dividing,  and 
a  female  form  gradually  emerged,  clad  in  a  thin  gauze 
wrap;  and  eventually  the  curtains  dropped  behind 
her,  and  the  supposed  materialised  spirit  stood 
within  six  feet  of  me,  a  gleaming,  shining  white 
figure. 

The  silence  was  intense;  even  the  "jubilee 
song"  had  died  down  in  the  solemn  hush,  and  then 
the  voice  of  Mr.  Stead  was  heard  explaining,  in  low, 
quiet  tones,  that  he  recognised  the  figure  as  that  of  a 
dear  deceased  relative — I  think  it  was  his  aunt — 
and  explained  the  wonders  of  materialisation  we  were 
privileged  to  witness.  "There  was  the  figure," 
he  said,  pointing  to  the  apparition,  "and  all  the 
time  the  medium  was  sitting  on  her  kitchen  chair  in 
the  'cabinet." 

The  Second  Sensation 

But  the  "Society  Entertainer"  would  not  stand 
this,  and  then  occurred  the  second  great  sensation 
of  the  afternoon.  "No,  I  AIN'T,"  said  the  figure 
in  a  loud  voice  with  a  strong  American  accent, 

"I'M  HERE." 

It  was  awful,  and  I  mus  tsay  I  now  awaited  a 
tremendous  explosion  of  wrath.  But  by  this  time 
the  power  of  "collective  hypnotism,"  aided  perhaps 
by  the  old  maxim  {'populus  vult  decipi,"  maintained 


COLLECTIVE  HYPNOSIS  167 

an  absolute  silence  in  the  room,  and  the  figure  slowly 
withdrew,  no  doubt  recognised  by  other  skilled 
observers  as  one  of  their  relatives.  Three  times  did 
the  figure  appear,  and  gradually  disappear.  All 
appeared  profoundly  interested.  Mr.  Stead,  who 
seemed  to  know  the  procedure  beforehand,  and  yet 
who,  I  am  persuaded,  acted  in  perfect  (hypnotised) 
good  faith  throughout,  then  announced  that  any  who 
wished  might  now  go  up  to  the  curtains  and  peep 
through  them. 

A  Piteous  Sight 

So  at  last,  after  two  hours,  our  hands  were  loosed, 
and  one  and  another  went  and  peered  in,  and  believed 
that  they  saw  the  luminous  presentment  of  some  loved 
one  who  had  "passed  over."  It  was  piteous.  I  sat 
still  and,  after  half  an  hour,  the  curtains  were  sud- 
denly burst  open,  and  out  rushed  (in  her  blouse,  skirt, 
stockings,  and  shoes  again)  the  medium  in  an  appar- 
ent trance.  I  caught  her  and  said  "Bravo!"  "I 
did  it  all  right,  didn't  I?"  said  she. 

Of  course,  on  the  principle  of  better  late  than 
never,  I  expected  some  leading  man  in  the  room 
now  to  say  something  to  the  point.  But  no!  They 
broke  up  amicably,  and  the  fragments  of  con- 
versation I  heard  pointed  to  the  belief  they  had 
had  a  very  remarkable  and  interesting  spiritist 
seance.*  I  wrote  to  Mr.  Stead,  saying  the  method 
employed  by  the  performers  was  perfectly  obvious; 
that  when  the  "cabinet"  was  visited  a  small  roll  of 

*  Here,  and  in  Mr.  Stead's  action,  is  shown  the  remarkable 
fact  that  after  the  hypnotic  effect  has  gone  the  delusion  still  per- 
sists in  good  faith,  being  established  in  the  brain  as  a  demon- 
strated truth. 


i68  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

gauze  and  some  luminous  paint  could  be  readily 
introduced,  and  that  it  ought  to  be  exposed.  To 
my  surprise,  Mr.  Stead  was  furious,  and  asked  how 
I  dared  suspect  any  of  his  audience,  that  if  any  one 
brought  apparatus  it  must  have  been  myself  ( !) 

Approval  of  F.  W.  H.  Myers 

"None,  however,"  he  said,  "had  been  brought; 
and  he  had  already  had  a  communication  from  (the 
much  harassed)  Mr.  F.  W.  H.  Myers  to  congratulate 
him  on  the  successful  se'ance,"  which  he  (Mr.  Stead) 
declared  was  the  most  wonderful  materialisation  ever 
seen  in  London  (this  was  probably  true),  etc., 
and  he  also  said  he  had  many  letters  of  congratulation 
from  the  audience.  This  finally  demonstrated  the 
amazing  truth  that  Mr.  Stead  and  distinguished 
scientists  in  my  presence  had  deliberately  preferred 
to  accept  the  evidence  of  their  own  hypnotised 
senses  than  to  believe  the  testimony  of  the  per- 
formers themselves.  I  doubt  that  it  is  possible  to 
give  stronger  evidence  of  "collective  hypnotism." 
Comment  is  needless;  but  the  sadness,  to  me,  of 
seeing  a  company  of  distinguished  savants  deceived 
by  such  puerile  methods  was  naturally  much 
mitigated  by  being  able  to  attribute  their  attitude 
to  "collective  hypnotism." 

Six  Drunken  Mediums 

I  am  told,  however,  by  a  well-known  "Christian" 
occultist,  Mr.  Robert  King,  that  materialisation  of 
"spirits"  does  take  place;  and  that  in  this  country 
there  are  at  least  six  mediums  who  can  effect  it,  but 
that  one  and  all  are  drunkards  and  will  resort  to 


COLLECTIVE  HYPNOSIS  169 

trickery  if  they  possibly  can,  as  being  so  much  easier 
and  more  certain,  which  one  can  well  imagine.  Of 
course,  this  may  or  may  not  be  true;  but,  in  view  of 
my  experience,  it  is  obvious  that  the  greatest  care  is 
needed  to  exclude  delusions.  It  is  only,  perhaps,  fair 
to  add  that  Sir  O.  Lodge  did  not  agree  with  Mr. 
Stead  in  the  genuineness  of  the  phenomena;  and  Mr. 
Stead  had  to  call  in  the  testimony  "from  the  other 
side"  of  the  hard-worked  Mr.  F.  W.  H.  Myers  in 
his  support.  Mr.  Myers  said  he  had  read  a  report  of 
the  meeting  in  the  Daily  Chronicle;  whether  this  is 
a  compliment  to  the  journal  or  the  reverse,  we  must 
leave  the  editor  to  decide. 

I  have  never  heard  any  one  doubt  it  was  the  best 
materialising  stance  seen  in  London,  and  yet  soon 
after  the  husband  and  wife  were  showing  similar 
phenomena  to  any  one  at  25.  6d.  a  head ! 

More  Wonderful  Still 

But  after  all,  I  sometimes  wonder  whether  even  the 
amazing  instance  I  have  given  illustrates  the  power  of 
collective  hypnotism  so  powerfully  as  an  event  well 
known  to  us  all,  and  yet  never  scientifically  accounted 
for.  I  allude  to  the  supposed  presence  of  thousands 
of  Russian  soldiers  all  over  England  at  the  close  of 
1914. 

Here  we  get,  not  an  "hysterical"  crowd  massed 
together  for  some  common  object,  holding  hands 
and  singing  hymns  in  the  dark,  and  ready  to  believe 
almost  anything,  but  men  of  the  highest  standing 
and  utmost  probity,  accustomed  to  weigh  their 
words,  women  of  the  highest  honor  isolated  in 
country  houses,  or  citizens  keeping  solitary  watches 


i  yo  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

as  special  constables  all  over  England  and  Scotland — 
in  short,  a  whole  nation,  not  of  imaginative  Celts, 
but  of  cold-blooded,  slow-minded  Anglo-Saxons,  all 
involved  in  one  common  gigantic  delusion,  which 
was  believed  by  them  so  implicity  that  to  doubt 
their  word  was  to  court  their  severe  displeasure  and 
to  write  oneself  a  fool. 

It  was  not  that  they  all  saw  or  heard  the  same 
thing;  they  did  not. 

The  Same  Lie 

But  they  one  and  all  believed  the  same  lie! 
Not  that  any  authority  ever  told  this  lie;  but  it 
sprang  up  practically  almost  of  itself  in  a  night,  and 
in  twenty-four  hours  seemed  common  property, 
all  over  England,  with  a  few  doubters  at  a  heavy 
discount. 

Grave  parsons  had  heard  crowds,  with  their 
bearded  heads  out  of  the  carriage  windows,  talking 
and  shouting  Russian  as  they  slowly  passed  some 
wayside  station.  My  brother-in-law,  as  a  special 
constable  in  Middlesex,  told  me  he  had  special 
warning  to  guard  two  bridges  as  the  Russian  Army 
trains  were  to  pass  that  night.  Another  cousin  in 
Somerset  watched  a  long  train  full  of  Russians 
slowly  pass  under  the  road  bridge  below  his  house. 
An  interesting  letter  from  Aberdeen  told  me  of  four 
long  trains  full  of  Russians  which  had  been  despatched 
south  that  night,  holding  up  the  ordinary  traffic. 
These  had  come  from  Archangel ! 

Another  helped  to  give  refreshments  to  the 
Russians  at  a  wayside  station,  and  another  saw 
thousands  off  at  the  docks.  I  might  go  on  for 


COLLECTIVE  HYPNOSIS  171 

pages,  but  I  doubt  not  that  each  of  my  readers  can 
give  just  as  good  instances  of  this  gigantic  national 
hypnosis  as  I  can. 

Sanity  no  Protection 

No  falsehood  seemed  too  great  to  believe,  and  no 
person  too  truthful  to  tell  it.  No  amount  of  sanity 
seemed  a  sufficient  protection  against  the  over- 
whelming delusion.  Surely  anything  in  "collective 
hypnotism"  at  seances  or  elsewhere  is  easily  possible 
after  this. 

The  belief  moreover  was  not  vague,  it  was  circum- 
stantial; it  gave  dates  and  places,  the  smallest  and 
most  accurate  details,  and  even  sketches  of  what 
never  occurred,  and  was  never  heard  nor  seen 
— only  believed  in.  The  hallucination  was  uni- 
versal ! 

Consider  the  circumstances.  Our  forces  were 
retreating;  the  dreaded  Huns  were  at  our  throats. 
The  fall  of  Paris  was  but  a  matter  of  a  very  short 
time,  the  Government  already  having  left  it.  Eng- 
land had  strained  every  nerve  to  place  adequate 
forces  in  the  field;  but  all  were  too  few,  all  was 
insufficient,  there  was  no  help. 

When,  suddenly,  there  was  light  in  the  darkness! 
"The  Russians  were  coming!"  "But  how?"  for 
European  travel  was  impossible.  "Direct  from 
Archangel"  came  the  reassuring  answer,  and  England 
drew  one  long  breath  of  relief.  "Yes,  they  were 
coming!  In  thousands,  in  tens  of  thousands,  in 
hundreds  of  thousands!" 


1 72  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

Seeing  the  Invisible 

And  so  all  the  sober-minded  men  and  women 
went  forth  to  welcome  them,  and  hear  and  see  them; 
and  they  did  all  three. 

They  stood  on  the  bridges  and  cheered  the 
Russians  that  weren't  there.  They  saw  in  thou- 
sands men  that  did  not  exist,  and  heard  Russian 
tongues  everywhere,  which  were  nowhere.  And 
yet  to  doubt  their  word,  to  tell  the  smallest  vestige 
of  the  truth,  was  to  be  a  traitor  of  the  deepest 
dye,  unworthy  of  the  society  of  honest  English- 
men. 

"Thank  God,  they  could  believe  their  own  eyes 
and  ears,"  and  they  did;  and  they  now  know  with 
what  result. 

From  this  it  would  appear  that  a  hallucination 
may  persist  for  days  (or  years?),  and  small  details 
(when  under  a  false  belief)  may  be  seen  and  recorded 
by  men  of  the  highest  standing,  that  absolutely 
were  never  seen  and  never  existed.  In  short,  the 
"Russian  legend"  is  the  most  complete  proof  of  the 
possible  unreality  of  all  phenomena  accounted  real 
in  Spiritism.  The  rejoinder,  of  course,  is  that  nothing 
can  then  be  proved  as  true  or  real.  The  reply  can 
only  be,  "You  must  judge  each  individual  case  on 
its  own  merits.  Consider  the  Russians;  apply  the 
conditions;  and  in  examining  the  supposed  phe- 
nomena bear  these  in  mind,  and  apply  such  tests, 
as  your  ingenuity  suggests,  that  will  exclude  every 
form  of  hallucination  by  'collective  hypnotism'  or 
otherwise." 


COLLECTIVE  HYPNOSIS  173 

Another  Instance 

When  you  have  done  all  this  you  will  agree  with 
me  that  the  terrible  strides  of  modern  science  have, 
indeed,  made  it  very  hard  for  modern  Spiritism  to 
establish  their  "facts." 

To  produce  them,  after  all,  is  now  only  half 
the  battle.  It  must  not  be  imagined  that  the 
"Russian  legend"  is  the  only  instance  of  "collective 
hypnotism."  On  the  contrary,  they  occur  all  over 
the  country,  quite  commonly.  On  May  26th,  1907, 
over  one  hundred  people  in  France,  men  and  women, 
declared  on  oath  that  they  had  seen  large  oval 
hailstones,  each  bearing  the  image  of  the  Virgin. 

Of  course,  the  most  puzzling  cases  to  reason  in  the 
long  list  of  Spiritist  phenomena  are  the  floating  of 
D.  D.  Home  in  and  out  of  a  window,  eighty-five  feet 
above  the  ground,  in  Buckingham  Gate;  and  the 
long  series  of  appearances  of  "Katie  King"  in  Sir 
Wm.  Crookes'  rooms — a  supposed  materialised 
spirit.* 

Hypnosis  Does  Not  Account  for  All 

Sir  Wm.  Barrett  ("On  the  Threshold  of  the 
Unseen,"  p.  37)  says  that  "when  fraud  does  not 
explain  the  phenomena,  and  when  the  observers  are 
such  as  Sir  Wm.  Crookes,  Professor  de  Morgan  and 
others,  the  witnesses  thought  they  saw  what  they 
described  owing  to  some  hallucination  of  the  senses, 
such  as  occurs  in  "incipient  hypnosis"  (if  for 
"incipient"  Sir  Wm.  Barrett  had  written  "col- 

*  Much  doubt,  however,  is  thrown  on  "Katie  King"  by  the 
fact  that  the  medium  Florence  Cook  has  been  convicted  of 
fraudulent  materialization.  See  p.  193. 


174  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

lective, "  he  would  have  represented  my  theory), 
"but,"  he  continues,  "/  found  the  facts  completely 
shattered  my  theory. 

' '  In  many  cases  all  preconceived  theories  of  fraud, 
and  illusions,  and  mal-observation  must  be  aban- 
doned," 

Well!  Be  it  so.  Still,  "collective  hypnotism" 
accounts  for  much.  I  have  never  thought  it  ac- 
counted for  all.  I  have  always  held  that  when 
science  and  scepticism  have  done  their  best  to  destroy 
the  credibility  of  the  facts  (not  the  theories)  of 
Spiritism,  there  remains  an  indestructible  residuum 
which  is  the  work  (so  far  as  we  at  present  know) 
of  non-human  agencies;  and  which,  personally,  I 
believe  to  be  spirits  of  another  world,  but  certainly 
not  disembodied  spirits  of  the  dead. 


CHAPTER  X 

DANGERS  OF  SPIRITISM 

Peril  not  Exaggerated 

I  HAVE  already  throughout  this  book  at  times 
spoken  of  the  dangers  attaching  to  modern  Spiritism ; 
and  some  may  think  that  enough  has  already  been 
said  upon  the  subject. 

Lately,  moreover,  there  has  been  a  determined 
effort  on  the  part  of  Spiritists  to  pour  ridicule  on 
such  warnings,  and  the  new  leaders  are  very  forward 
in  declaring  these  perils  are  grossly  exaggerated,  and 
that  people  need  not  be  alarmed;  the  good  far 
outweighing  the  evil,  and  so  on. 

Older  and  more  experienced  members  of  the  cult 
do  not  write  like  this.  On  the  contrary,  I  have  been 
astonished  at  the  candour  and  earnestness  with 
which  these  men  of  high  integrity  write  about  the 
great  dangers  that  beset  the  very  study  they  are 
advocating.  Professor  Flournoy  says  that  his  oppo- 
sition to  Spiritism  is  due  "to  its  harmful  effects — 
moral,  mental,  and  physical." 

To  me,  alas,  the  subject  has  become  a  very  painful 
one,  since  it  has  touched  my  own  friends. 

Personal  Experience 

It  is  when  one  sees  one  of  the  finest  cavalry  officers 
in  the  British  Army,  one  of  one's  own  circle,  a  clever 


176  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

and  brave  man,  driven  out  of  his  senses  by  it  that 
one  begins  to  understand  what  "playing  with  fire" 
means.  For,  with  every  desire  to  speak  with  truth 
and  moderation,  I  consider  that  any  dabbling  with 
Spiritism,  even  in  the  most  innocent  beginnings, 
means  nothing  less  than  this. 

It  would  be  criminal  for  me,  then,  with  such 
beliefs  and  such  experiences,  to  omit  this  chapter; 
and  I  do  not  for  one  moment  think  Spiritists  of  real 
experience  will  blame  me  for  recording  my  evidence 
of  the  dangers  of  this  occult  study. 

These  dangers  may  broadly  be  considered  under 
the  two  heads  of  causes  and  classes.  In  medicine, 
in  the  study  of  disease,  we  have  always  what  we  call 
the  predisposing  cause,  that  which  indirectly  pro- 
duces it;  and  the  exciting  cause,  to  which  the  disease 
is  directly  due. 

Predisposing  Cause 

What  I  would  call  the  predisposing  cause  of  danger 
in  Spiritism  is  the  same  as  it  is  in  disease,  the  per- 
sonality and  history  of  the  sufferer. 

The  special  evil  in  Spiritism  is  that  it  is  just  those 
unstable  natures  which  are  most  attracted  by  its 
tenets  and  practices,  which  are  those  to  whom  it  is 
the  greatest  danger.  All  are  not  equally  exposed  to 
risk.  Which  are  those  natures  who  are?  Chiefly 
highly  strung,  imaginative  and  credulous  people, 
men  and  women,  of  a  more  or  less  weak,  nervous 
temperament.  The  majority  at  stances  are,  as  a 
rule,  individuals  of  this  class. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  when  we  speak  of 
millions  of  Spiritists  we  include  all  the  "camp-fol- 


DANGERS  OF  SPIRITISM  177 

lowers"  of  the  army;  we  include  thousands  who 
have  no  real  interest  in  the  subject,  and  never  go 
further  than  table-turning.  And  though  sporadic 
cases  suffer,  even  amongst  these,  they  are  not  the 
class  who  encounter  the  real  dangers;  for  I  have 
already  pointed  out,  in  table-turning  and  such 
elementary  practices,  that  the  danger  is  not  in  the 
practice  itself,  but  in  what  it  leads  to. 

The  Acute  Reader 

Those  who  get  absorbed  in  Spiritism  are  just  those 
unstable  natures  which  are  prone  to  disaster.  It  is 
these  that  feel  most  strongly  the  almost  irresistible 
attraction  of  Spiritism.  Seeing,  as  I  do  continually, 
this  especial  class,  I  am  quite  sure  that  no  patient  of 
mine  ought  to  ever  dabble  in  this  pursuit.  And  yet 
some  do,  and  I  greatly  fear  for  them,  and  do  my 
best  to  help  them.  I  hope  they  will  read  this 
book. 

"Now,"  says  the  acute  reader,  "the  man  has 
unmasked  himself!  Here  is  no  fair  judgment  of 
Spiritism.  Under  an  appearance  of  presenting  both 
sides  of  a  subject,  a  violent  opponent  of  the  cult 
writes  this  book,  with  its  distorted  contents.  No 
doubt,  what  the  doctor  here  says  is  true  enough  in 
itself.  It  is  these  very  nervous  and  unbalanced 
people  who  do  the  noble  cause  of  Spiritism  so  much 
harm.  But  certainly  he  is  not  the  man  to  write 
about  it";  and  so  on. 

One  can  understand  the  diatribe;  but  the  book, 
after  all,  must  be  judged  on  its  merits,  and  not  by 
the  profession  of  its  writer.  At  first  sight  one  would 
hardly  have  thought  a  well-known  writer  of  fiction 


1 78  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

could  become  the  best  exponent  of  Spiritism — but 
such  a  verdict  would  be  most  unfair.* 

Fifty  Years  of  Study 

I  have  ever,  as  my  friends  know,  been  an  earnesc 
student  of  psychological  problems,  and  for  nearly  fifty 
years  of  those  specially  associated  with  Spiritism,  my 
interest  being  first  awakened  by  the  case  recorded 
on  p.  44,  which  I  met  in  my  Guernsey  college  days. 

Moreover,  it  is  quite  clear  that  my  present 
chapter  is  endorsed,  at  any  rate  in  its  purpose,  by 
the  most  experienced  Spiritists,  so  that  it  may  be 
said,  indirectly,  to  promote  the  true  interests  of 
Spiritism. 

The  principal  objections  I  have  to  this  modern  cult 
have  yet  to  be  urged,  and  will  be  found  set  forth  in 
Chapter  XII.  These  have,  however,  no  connection 
at  all  with  my  profession,  directly  or  indirectly, 
but  are  on  different  grounds  altogether,  as  the  reader 
will  see. 

A  Fair  Presentation 

Such  objections  would  be  only  weakened  by  any 
untrue  picture  of  that  which  I  condemn.  I  have 
therefore  endeavoured,  by  special  research,  to  present 
the  subject  from  the  point  of  view  of  Spiritists 
themselves,  rather  than  from  my  own;  and  for 
this  reason  I  think  I  have  been  rather  more  than  fair 
in  presenting  my  facts. 

No  doubt,  if  this  book  had  been  written  with  any 

*  After  all,  the  subject  is  not  wholly  uncongenial  to  the 
creator  of  Sherlock  Holmes,  for  it  certainly  is  full  of  both  mys- 
terv  and  fiction. 


DANGERS  OF  SPIRITISM  170 

literary  skill,  this  ''apologia"  would  have  its  rightful 
place  in  the  preface;  but  that  [must  pass;  and  per- 
haps, after  all,  being  where  it  is,  it  may  better  clear 
the  air  for  our  present  subject.  This  chapter  is  no 
pronouncement  whatever,  good  or  bad,  on  the  cult  of 
Spiritism,  which  is  veritably  fast  becoming  a  new 
religion,  and  will,  I  feel  sure,  soon  be  proclaimed  as 
such  by  others  besides  Conan  Doyle;  but  solely  a 
warning  of  the  real  dangers,  physical,  mental  and 
moral  (rather  than  spiritual),  which  beset  its  votaries. 
This  last  class  of  danger  I  leave  at  present,  as  it  will 
be  fully  considered  in  Chapter  XII. 

No  Tampering 

"There  are,"  says  Professor  Flournoy,  "prin- 
ciples and  powers,  which  we,  in  our  ignorance,  toy 
with;  without  knowing  the  frightful  consequences 
which  may  result  from  tampering  with  the  unseen 
world."* 

It  is,  I  think,  obvious  that  those  whose  heredity 
or  temperament  indicates  any  tendency  to  nervous 
instability  should  keep  absolutely  clear  from  any 
such  ' '  tampering. ' ' 

But  besides  the  "predisposing  cause"  of  tempera- 
ment, there  are  at  least  two  exciting  or  direct  causes 
of  any  subsequent  trouble,  which  may  be  pointed  out. 

No  one  can  blame  Spiritism  for  the  "tempera- 
ment" of  its  students,  but  all  its  best  friends  will 
join  me  in  my  warnings. 

Exciting  Cause 

One  exciting  cause  is  common  to  all  students,  and 
that  is,  that  Spiritism  itself,  in  its  very  nature,  con- 
*  "Spiritism  and  Psychology,"  p.  9. 


i8o  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

tinually  occupies  our  minds  with  much  that  is  not 
only  mystic,  but  positively  unwholesome;  and  in 
doing  so,  it  calls  forth  and  uses  many  of  the  latent 
powers  of  humanity,  as  "telepathy,"  telekinesis (?), 
clairvoyance  and  clairaudience,  hypnotic  conditions, 
and  the  prominent  action  of  the  unconscious  mind. 

Now  most  of  these,  and  possibly  other  latent 
powers,  are  possessed  in  varying  degree  by  large 
numbers  who  are  unconscious  of  them;  and  as  their 
development  and  their  continued  use  and  cultivation 
is  at  present  more  or  less  of  a  danger,  the  risk  is  very 
widely  spread. 

Latent  Powers 

It  seems  to  me  possible,  and,  from  my  experience, 
very  probable  that  we  possess  certain  latent  senses 
or  powers  far  transcending  in  force  those  that  we 
at  present  use,  and  which  are  dimly  seen  in  uncertain 
ways  by  some  on  rare  occasions.  Spiritism  is  the 
special  cult  which  vigorously  stimulates  the  use  of 
these  very  powers.  But  this,  without  doubt,  often 
proves  very  unsafe.  I  believe  that  at  present  these 
powers  should  be  allowed  to  lie  dormant,  and  should 
not  be  called  into  active  or  constant  use.  "We  are 
not  what  we  shall  be,"  and  "we  know  not  what  we 
shall  be,"  but  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  a  time  will 
come  when  every  power  we  possess  will  be  fully 
developed  and  used. 

There  are  at  present  very  few  who  have  developed 
these  powers  to  any  great  extent  who  have  not 
suffered  more  or  less  from  doing  so.  This  is  true  of 
nearly  every  medium*  over  the  whole  world,  each 

*  Curiously  enough,  earnest  students  constantly  end  in  be- 
coming "mediums"  themselves. 


DANGERS  OF  SPIRITISM  181 

one  of  whom  cultivates,  and  many  of  whom  live  by, 
the  exercise  of  these  rare  powers.  The  tendency  in 
such  is  ever  downwards.  The  body  physically  seems, 
sooner  or  later,  unable  to  bear  the  strain;  the  mind, 
in  like  manner,  seems  to  lose  its  fibre,  its  will  power, 
its  concentration;  the  moral  character  markedly 
deteriorates;  drunkenness  and  other  vices  prevail; 
and  the  whole  condition  becomes  more  or  less 
deplorable. 

Disastrous  Results 

Such  disastrous  results  do  not  follow  the  use  of 
any  of  our  normal  powers.  I  think,  then,  that  I  am 
fully  justified  in  believing,  on  evidence  that  cannot 
be  denied,  that  we  are  not  intended  at  present  to 
develop  or  actively  use  these  wounderful  powers, 
while  at  the  same  time  we  cannot  but  believe  there 
will  be  hereafter  conditions  in  which  they  will  prove 
of  the  greatest  service,  very  possibly  in  that  "other 
world"  Spiritists  seem  so  anxious  to  discover. 

My  testimony  regarding  the  moral,  mental,  and 
physical  deterioration  produced  is  entirely  derived 
from  Spiritists. 

The  other  exciting  cause  is  only  experienced  by  the 
few.  who  penetrate  deeply  into  the  secrets  of  the 
" seance.'.'  Perhaps  I  can  best  point  it  out  in  other 
words  than  my  own. 

I  have  already  quoted  Professor  Flournoy,  who 
clearly  indicates  their  dangers. 

They  come,  as  he  plainly  shows,  from  the  other 
world,  and  I  shall  proceed  to  show,  more  in  detail, 
what  these  special  dangers  are. 

This,  indeed,  brings  me  to  the  second  part  of  my 


i82  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

subject — the   classes   of   dangers   to   which   we   are 
exposed  in  Spiritism.     ,  • 

Seven  in  Number 

These  are  seven  in  number: — 

1.  The  moral  and  religious  dangers. 

2.  The  dangers  to  reason. 

3.  The  dangers  of  "possession." 

4.  The  loss  of  will  power. 

5.  The  dangers  associated  with  necromancy. 

6.  The  physical  dangers. 

7.  The  dangers  of  imposition. 

i.  Respecting  moral  and  religious  dangers,  I  shall 
consider  the  former  here  only;  the  latter  will  not 
be  touched  on  now,  being  best  left  to  the  twelfth 
chapter. 

A.  P.  Sinnett's  experience  of  the  records  of  life 
after  death  are  very  terrible  and  lowering  to  the 
moral  sense.  They  are  mostly  so  grossly  sensual 
and  obscene  that  he  cannot  possibly  put  his  ex- 
periences into  words,  as  he  plainly  states.  This  is  by 
no  means  an  isolated  experience.  * 

Instances  of  Danger 

Mrs.  Forbes,  a  secretary  of  the  S.P.R.,  lost  her 
son,  and,  overwhelmed  with  grief,  sought  to  get  a 
communication  with  him.  She  soon  spoke- to  what 
she  thought  was  her  son  daily;  and  then  suddenly, 
one  night,  had  a  most  dreadful  experience  with  a 
"man,"  or  some  powerful  spirit  who  had  forced 
himself  (from  the  other  world)  into  her  presence, 

*  The  horrible  and  obscene  revelations  of  "juju"  in  East 
Africa  point  to  a  similar  state  of  things  in  the  devil  worship  there. 
It's  rather  too  much  to  have  this  imported  into  England ! 


DANGERS  OF  SPIRITISM  183 

through  the  medium  of  automatic  writing.  For  a 
very  similar  case  see  Mr.  E.  F.  Benson's  recent  re- 
markable book,  "Across  the  Stream."  It  is,  of 
course,  fiction,  but  is  a  most  truthfully  drawn 
picture  of  the  real  thing  I  am  alluding  to. 

Dr.  Thornton's  daughter,  using  the  planchette, 
got  responses  from  a  spirit  which  had  not  given  its 
name.  She  said,  "If  you  can't  write  your  name, 
make  a  cross."  Then  the  planchette  seemed  seized 
with  a  fury,  and  swept  away  from  the  hands  upon  it.  * 
Miss  Thornton  put  it  back,  and  she  again  said 
"Make  a  cross."  It  wrote  on  the  paper,  in  letters 
six  inches  long,  "No,  No,  No!"  "Make  a  cross  or  go," 
she  replied.  Then  it  wrote  "Curse  you,"  and  left. 

I  fear  this  savours  of  the  melodramatic;  but  I 
cannot  help  it,  as  I  believe  the  story  to  be  authentic, 
and  there  really  seems  a  good  deal  of  "melo- 
drama" in  Spiritism! 

Will  any  say  that  such  beings  are  not  a  very  real 
danger  both  to  faith  and  morals  ? 

Immorality 

A  steady  teacher  in  a  board  school,  thirty-six 
years  of  age,  a  single  man,  of  temperate  habits  in  all 
things,  began  to  dabble  in  spirit-writing,  and  soon 
was  answered  by  a  most  unclean  spirit  writing  the 
most  obscene  words  and  suggesting  the  most  wicked 
thoughts  and  drawing  awful  pictures.  It  gradually 
destroyed  his  character,  and  he  entered  on  a  dis- 
solute life,  spending  his  time  and  money  in  orgies  of 
debauchery. 

*  We  have  also  accounts  from  Sir  Wm.  Crookes  and  others  of 
the  apparent  "possession"  of  inanimate  objects. 


i84  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

Some  years  ago  Dr.  Egbert  Muller  left  Spiritism 
and  became  a  Roman  Catholic.  His  conviction 
(1900)  of  the  character  of  Spiritism,  after  many 
years  of  experience,  and  investigation,  is  that  it  is  a 
bold  scheme  for  the  destruction  of  Christianity. 
Dr.  B.  F.  Hatch,  with  but  little  inquiry, .  came 
across  seventy  immoral  mediums.  I  have  already 
shown  that  all  materialising  mediums  a  few  years 
ago  were  reputed  drunkards  and  liars.*  The 
dangers  to  reason  are  perhaps  even  greater  than  to 
morals. 

Many  Lunatics 

2.  Dr.  Forbes  Winslow  (not  the  author)  is  respon- 
sible for  the  statement  that  10,000  were  then  (1877) 
in  asylums,  victims  to  Spiritism.  Such  a  statement  is 
extremely  difficult  to  verify;  but,  at  any  rate,  it 
represents  the  opinion  of  an  expert  alienist. 

Of  course,  neuropathic  patients,  as  I  have  shown, 
yield  most  readily  to  artificial  somnambulism  or  the 
medium  trance,  and  hence  are  most  easily  drawn 
into  Spiritist  practices,  and  it  is  these  whose 
"reason"  is  most  readily  endangered. 

We  find,  indeed,  in  those  whose  reason  is  most 
seriously  injured  for  life  there  is  generally  (not 
always)  some  hereditary  history  of  an  adverse  nature. 
A  leading  Spiritist,  C.  Flammarion,  says:  "It  is  pru- 
dent not  to  give  oneself  exclusively  to  occult  sub- 
jects, for  one  might  soon  lose  the  independence  of 
mind  necessary  to  form  an  impartial  judgment." 

It    is    most    unfortunate    that    Spiritism    should 

*  It  might  be  pointed  out  here  that  it  is  acknowledged  by 
experts  that  the  moral  standard  of  the  unconscious  mind  (always 
active  in  stances)  is  much  lower  than  that  of  the  conscious. 


DANGERS   OP  SPIRITISM  185 

attract  the  unstable  in  this  way,  to  whom  it  does  so 
much  harm. 

Danger  to  Sensitives 

A  member  of  the  S.P.R.,  writing  on  "The 
Dangers  of  Spiritism,"  says  that  "undeniable 
sensitives  (with  psychic  and  mediumistic  gifts), 
apart  from  money,  are  endangered  not  only  in 
seances,  but  in  private  investigations."  It  must  not, 
however,  be  supposed,  on  the  other  hand,  that  a  well- 
balanced  mind  makes  Spiritism  safe;  for  it  does  not. 

A  lady  living  in  Devonshire  conducted,  from  the 
age  of  sixteen,  all  sorts  of  Spiritist  phenomena, 
which  nearly  cost  her  her  reason,  and  left  her  a 
hopeless  cataleptic.  A  very  clever  Spiritist  leader 
died  in  an  asylum  in  Paris  the  other  day.  He  was 
well  known  to  me.  Innumerable  other  cases  could 
be  given;  and  a  friend,  whose  brother  was  one  of  the 
best  known  Spiritists  in  America,  told  me  that  his 
brother  did  not  know  of  a  single  case  where  the  study 
had  been  pursued  without  distinct  deterioration 
of  the  mental,  moral,  or  spiritual  faculties  ensuing. 
Continued  "possession"  by  an  evil  spirit  nearly 
always  ends  in  chronic  mental  disease.  The  results 
of  automatic  writing  are  perhaps  the  more  dangerous 
to  reason,  physical  phenomena  being  comparatively 
harmless. 

The  continued  use  of  .supposed  necromancy  is 
very  easy,  and  very  common;  but  it  is  constantly 
followed  by  painful  and  dangerous  results  to  the 
reason. 

I  have  already  alluded  to  a  most  painful  case  of  a 
cavalry  officer  that  fell  a  victim  to  the  Bureau  of 


186  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

Julia,  established  by  Mr.  Stead,  and  which,  I  fear,  is 
by  no  means  a  solitary  example. 

He  went  there  in  all  innocence,  in  great  grief, 
having  recently  lost  his  mother,  and  soon  got  into 
(supposed)  touch  with  her;  and  then  the  inter- 
views became  more  and  more  frequent,  but  with  most 
disastrous  results.  One  day,  on  the  parade  ground, 
he  gave  a  series  of  ridiculous  orders,  and  he  was 
brought  home  a  lunatic.  He  tried  to  kill  his  aged 
father  that  night,  obsessed  by  the  vision  of  his 
mother;  and  it  was  my  melancholy  duty  to  take 
him,  the  next  day,  to  a  suitable  retreat,  a  total 
loss  to  the  Army  of  one  of  their  bravest  and  most 
efficient  officers. 

With  regard  to  the  dangers  of  "possession,"  I 
have  already  given  some  remarkable  instances  of  this 
condition,  so  that  what  I  refer  to  is  well  understood : 
for  I  believe  that  now,  in  this  twentieth  century, 
there  are  cases  in  our  asylums  as  clearly  those  of 
"possession"  by  unclean  spirits  as  ever  there  were 
on  the  shores  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee  in  our  Saviour's 
time. 

The  Rev.  Cyril  E.  Hudson,  in  the  Nineteenth 
Century  for  May,  1919,  says:  "Spiritists  know  that 
if  you  rend  the  thin  veil  which  separates  this  world 
from  the  next,  you  can  have  no  guarantee  what- 
ever as  to  the  character  of  the  personalities  which 
will  avail  themselves  of  the  rent.  You  are  running 
an  awful  risk." 

"It  is  simply  puerile,"  says  another,  "to  refuse 
to  face  the  possibility  that  evil  spirits  may  rush  to 
the  threshold  when  the  door  is  opened." 

A    writer  in    the    Occult  Review  says:   "Spiritists 


DANGERS  OF  SPIRITISM  187 

are  well  aware  of  the  awful  peril  of  'obsession'  by 
evil  spirits.  Man  has  some  very  dangerous  and 
powerful  enemies  behirid  the  veil." 

3.  A  boy  of   twenty-five,    dabbling  in   Spiritism, 
narrowly  escaped   "possession,"   being  saved  by  a 
wise  friend,  a  member  of  the  S.P.R.   (which  must 
never  be  confounded  with  Spiritism,  as  it  holds  no 
dogmas,  advances  no  opinions,  and  teaches  no  creed), 
though  there  was  a  fearful  struggle  before  it  could 
be  accomplished.     "A  hundred  hands  seemed  to  be 
battering  at  the  walls,  ceiling,  and  all  the  furniture, 
while  the  boy  and  his  friend  sat  paralysed  with  fear 
in    the    bedroom,    the    servants    having    all  gone, 
terrified  with  fear,  to  bed."     "What  ten  minutes  was 
in    that    bedroom,"    the    friend    says,    "cannot    be 
imagined!     It  seemed  as  though  the  very  rabble  of 
the  unseen  world  had  been  let  loose,  in  order  to 
exhibit    to  us  the  power  of  its  malice,   and  of  its 
(fortunately)  impotent  rage!" 

As  a  rule,  in  "possession,"  the  awful  truth  is 
that  it  is  the  spirit  that  is  the  seeker  after  the  man, 
and  not  the  man  after  the  spirit.  Only  in  rare  cases, 
when  the  spirit  comes  in  some  lovely  and  bewitching 
form,  is  the  latter  the  case.  On  some  occasions  the 
entry  into  the  personality  is  effected  quite  suddenly 
and  insidiously.  * 

4.  The  next  danger,  "loss  of  will  power,"  is  un- 
doubtedly   a    contributory    cause    to    "possession." 
Sir  William  Barrett  well  says  with  regard  to  this: 
"Spiritism  is  dangerous  in  proportion  as  it  leads  us 

*  A  comparison  between  this  awful  hunt  for  the  soul  and  the 
"Hound  of  Heaven"  affords  a  wonderful  glimpse  of  the  forces 
of  evil  and  good  striving  for  the  soul  of  man. 


i88  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

to  surrender  our  reason  or  our  will  to  the  dictates 
of  an  invisible  and  often  lying  being." 

Dr.  Marcel  Viollet  describes  how  this  occurs:  "In 
a  stance  no  one  knows  if  anything  will  happen,  and 
all  are  reduced  to  a  condition  of  nerve  tension  before 
anything  occurs. 

"Eyes  and  ears  are  strained  to  know  what  is  going 
to  happen  at  the  little  table  where  the  medium  sits"; 
and  it  is  when  in  this  condition,  and  when  the  little 
table  begins  to  speak,  that  the  weakened  will  is  so 
often  subservient  to  the  spirit. 

In  the  Agapemone,  an  immoral  religious  body  in 
the  south  of  England  (to  turn  for  one  moment  from 
Spiritism),  the  head  was  Mr.  H.  J.  Prince,  who  was 
a  man  of  prayer  and  self-denial,  with  a  perfectly 
upright  private  life.  His  fall  was  undoubtedly  due 
to  the  absolute  yielding  of  his  will  to  supposed  spirit 
guidance,  putting  on  one  side  the  plain  teaching  of 
the  Bible  and  the  voice  of  common  sense.  "He  no 
longer  needed  these  helps,"  in  his  own  judgment, 
"on  account  of  his  full  surrender  to  what  he  thought 
was  the  Spirit  of  God."  Alas!  it  was  something 
far  different,  and  soon  led  him  into  the  most  debased 
life  and  practices.*  When  once  the  mind  and  will 
are  voluntarily  surrendered  (the  citadel  is  impreg- 
nable until  we  yield  up  its  custody),  neither  shrewd- 
ness nor  faith  will  save  us  from  the  dangers  of 
seducing  spirits.  The  surrender  of  free-will  in 
Spiritism  is  most  dangerous,  and  also  most  common. 

Raupert,  in  "Modern  Spiritism,"  says  (p.  72): 
"Much  passivity  indeed  would  seem  to  be  the  key- 

*  This  notorious  scandal  was  known  everywhere — but  not  its 
cause. 


DANGERS  OF  SPIRITISM  189 

note  of  all  spiritual  experience,  and  the  end  by  which 
the  spirit  world  most  efficiently  carries  on  its  opera- 
tions on  the  psychic  plane." 

The  danger  of  automatic  writing  is  very  great, 
inasmuch  as  it  necessarily  involves  the  absolute 
yielding  of  one's  hand  to  an  unknown  power  and 
being;  and  it  is  thus  that  this  is,  perhaps,  the  most 
frequent  beginning  of  "possession."  As  Sir  Wm. 
Barrett  remarks,  "In  Spiritism  we  lose  our  indi- 
viduality." 

Dr.  H.  Maudsley  says:  "It  is  impossible  to  escape 
the  penalty  of  weakening  the  will";  and,  since 
complete  passivity  is  an  essential  in  all  Spiritist 
seances,  it  is  easily  seen  how  readily  will-power 
becomes  lessened  and  eventually  lost.  Sir  Oliver 
Lodge  very  gravely  says:  "Self-control  is  more 
important  than  any  other  form  of  control,  and 
whoever  possesses  the  power  of  receiving  communi- 
cations in  any  form  should  see  to  it  that  he  remains 
master  of  the  situation.  To  give  up  your  own 
judgment  and  depend  solely  on  adventitious  aid  is 
a  grave  blunder,  and  may  in  the  long  run  have 
disastrous  consequences.  Moderation  and  common 
sense  are  required  in  those  who  try  to  utilise  powers 
which  neither  they  nor  any  fully  understand,  and  a 
dominating  occupation  in  mundane  affairs  is  a 
wholesome  safeguard." 

Once  one  begins  to  practise  Spiritism  one  cannot 
say  where  one  may  end,  and  herein  lies  its  greatest 
peril;  its  very  mystery  and  interest  insensibly  draw 
its  votaries  on.  It  seems  to  exercise  an  extraordinary 
fascination,  which  seems  to  demand  the  very  full 
self-surrender  against  which  we  are  so  often  warned. 


MODERN  SPIRITISM 

For  our  comfort  let  us  remember  that  there  can  be, 
as  I  have  said,  no  invasion  of  our  human  personality 
without  our  own  consent. 

Only  in  great  moderation,  and  in  retaining  full 
self-control  of  ourselves,  is  any  measure  of  safety  to 
be  found. 

5.  What  I  feel,  having  written  thus  far,  is  that  no 
arguments  are  needed  to  justify  to  the  full  the  very 
severe  way  in  which  Divine  wisdom  has  forbidden 
all  such  intercourse  with  the  unseen  world  as  is 
deliberatedly  courted  in  Spiritism.  I  only  touch  on 
this  point  here,  as  it  is  my  subject  later  on. 

It  seems  strange  that  the  same  voice  of  Spiritism 
should,  with  one  breath,  candidly  acknowledge  the 
great  dangers  surrounding  the  practice  of  necro- 
mancy and,  with  the  next,  scoff  at  the  solemn 
warnings  of  Scripture  against  them.  "Not  for 
nothing,"  says  C.  E.  Hudson,  in  the  Nineteenth 
Century,  "has  the  Church  throughout  her  history 
discouraged  the  practice  of  necromancy,  the  morbid 
concern  with  the  dead  which  must  inevitably  inter- 
fere, and  does  in  fact  interfere,  with  the  proper 
discharge  of  our  duties  in  that  plane  of  existence 
in  which  God  has  placed  us." 

The  special  evils  of  necromancy  are  pointed  out  in 
the  Times  of  July  gth,  1908.  It  says:  "After  every 
effort  (to  the  contrary)  theory  came  round  to  the 
ancient  explanation  that  the  baffling  personality  is 
a  spirit,  some  sort  of  daemon.  When  we  die  are  we 
then  to  join  the  wordy  rabble,  whose  jargon  does  not 
seem  as  a  rule  like  revelations  of  the  secrets  of  the 
prison-house,  but  rather  more  like  gibberings  from 
a  lunatic  asylum,  peopled  by  inmates  of  vulgar 


DANGERS  OF  SPIRITISM  191 

behaviour,  and  of  the  lowest  morals;  creatures  that 
lie  and  cheat,  give  false  names  and  unverifiable 
addresses?"  and,  I  may  add,  make  the  most 
nauseous  and  vilest  puns.  Some  of  these,  I  regret 
to  say,  greatly  disfigure  Sir  Oliver  Lodge's  book 
"Raymond." 

The  British  Quarterly  Review  says:  "To  hearken 
to  the  voice  of  the  dead  is  either  a  delusion  or  a 
reality.  If  it  be  the  former,  no  delusion  can  be  more 
mischievous,  more  degrading,  more  revolting.  If  it 
be  the  latter,  no  pursuit  can  be  more  dangerous." 

And  so  we  are  left  on  the  horns  of  this  uncomfort- 
able dilemma! 

We  recall  Tennyson's  lines  in  "In  Memoriam": — 

"  How  pure  of  heart,  and  sound  of  head, 
With  what  divine  affections  bold, 
Should  be  the  man  whose  thoughts  would  hold 
An  hour's  communion  with  the  dead." 

6.  Turning  now  to  the  sixth  class  of  danger,  "the 
physical,"  we  find  it  is  one  that  is  least  understood. 
My  attention  was  first  called  to  it  some  years 
ago,  when  staying  with  a  lady  who  was  fond  of 
Spiritism. 

She  complained  to  me  very  much  of  the  extreme 
exhaustion  she  felt  after  attending  s6ances,  and  won- 
dered whether  it  was  due  to  parting  with  some 
portion  of  her  flesh,  as  well  as  her  vitality,  in  the 
process  of  materializing  spirits  (to  say  nothing  of  the 
clothing  which,  we  are  assured,  is  derived  in  frag- 
ments from  the  audience). 

Since  then  I  have  known  more  of  the  extreme 
physical  exhaustion  of  mediums,  and  the  great 
physical  self-sacrifice  with  which  they  pursue  their 


i92  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

doubtful  and  dangerous  profession.  Sometimes, 
indeed,  we  have  evidence  that  this  amounts  to  real 
physical  danger  to  life. 

Professor  Hudson  (of  America)  states  that  the 
exercise  of  Spiritism  "produces  physical  deteriora- 
tion which  keeps  pace  with  mental  decline;  and 
which,  no  doubt,  loosens  all  principles  of  morality 
and  truth."  Mediums  are  peculiarly  exposed  to 
these  dangers,  and  yet  Sir  A.  Conan  Doyle  writes,  in 
"The  New  Revelation":  "Nearly  every  woman  is  an 
undeveloped  medium.  Let  her  try  her  own  powers 
of  automatic  writing."  Sir  A.  Conan  Doyle  has 
already  rightly  been  taken  to  task  as  a  doctor  for 
giving  such  dangerous  and  unprofessional  advice. 

7.  This  last  of  the  evil  effects  of  Spiritism  is  the 
result  of  being  continually  in  the  atmosphere  of  fraud 
and  folly.  At  first,  doubtless,  one  is  healthily  dis- 
gusted and  revolts  against  it.  By  degrees,  however, 
this  feeling  wears  away  (I  think  the  subtle  process  can 
be  discerned  in  "Raymond"),  and  the  mind,  first 
of  all,  gets  accustomed  to  the  lowering  atmosphere, 
and  eventually  tries  to  justify  it  as  a  necessary 
accompaniment  of  the  marvellous  revelations.  The 
whole  ends  in  unmistakably  degrading  the  character 
of  a  large  majority  of  those  who  have  given  them- 
selves up  to  the  practice  of  Spiritism.  Swedenborg, 
in  his  "Spiritist  Diary"  (sec.  1622),  says:  "Let  them 
who  speak  with  spirits  beware  lest  they  be  deceived 
when  they  say  that  they  are  those  whom  they  know, 
or  pretend  to  be." 

Sir  A.  Conan  Doyle  goes  so  far  as*"to  own  that 
"There  are,  I  think,  deliberate  frauds,  either  from 
this  side  or  the  other"  (or  from  both). 


DANGERS  OF  SPIRITISM  193 

For  a  most  interesting  expose  of  frauds  of  incon- 
ceivable skill  by  which  sealed  letters  are  opened  and 
read,  pendulums  locked  in  glass  cases  moved  at 
will,  rappings  produced  anywhere,  writing  on  closed 
and  locked  and  untouched  slates,  flowers  and  toys 
materialised  and  scattered  everywhere,  the  material- 
isation of  the  dead,  the  production  of  lights,  of  music, 
and  of  voices,  let  me  strongly  recommend  "Behind 
the  Scenes  with  the  Medium"  (330  pages),  by 
David  P.  Abbott  (Kegan  Paul  &  Co.,  Ltd.),  as  a 
book  from  which  the  reader  will  rise  a  sadder,  a 
disillusioned,  and  a  wiser  man. 

Dr.  Funk,  a  well-known  figure  in  New  York,  and 
a  foremost  man  in  all  psychological  problems,  and 
in  Spiritism,  says:  "People  are  being  fooled  by 
thousands  by  the  shallowest  tricks  at  Spiritist 
seances." 

Mediums,  indeed,  are  mostly  consciously  fraudu- 
lent; a  reliable  one  is  an  untold  and  very  rare 
treasure  to  the  investigator. 

As  I  have  shown,  this  is  not  so  much  because  they 
love  fraud,  as  because  the  power  they  possess  is  so 
capricious,  and  so  often  fails  them  at  the  critical 
moment,  that  they  have  no  alternative  but  to  resort 
to  fraud  to  produce  the  phenomena  for  which  the 
audience  have  paid  and  are  impatiently  waiting. 

Eusapia  Palladino,  who  is,  I  belive,  a  chief  source 
of  the  belief  in  Spiritism  of  Sir  Oliver  Lodge,  Myers, 
Professors  Schiaparelli  and  Lombroso,  is  known,  as 
already  stated,  frequently  to  have  practised  fraud 
of  a  glaring  kind.  Miss  Florence  Cook,  the  medium 
who  produced  Katie  King  for  Sir  William  Crookes, 
was  convicted  of  fraud  in  producing  a  lady  of  Queen 

M.S.  13 


i94  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

Anne's  •  Court,  and  also  when  her  materialised 
"Mary"  was  seized  and  .exposed. 

I  have  now  gone  briefly  through  seven  varieties  of 
dangers  that  are  constantly  found  in  Spiritism,  of 
which  such  fraud  is  one.  All  of  these  dangers  are 
more  familiar  to  Spiritists  and  students  of  the  subject 
than  they  are  to  most  of  my  readers. 

Mrs.  Sidgwick,  for  example,  says:  "I  am  afraid 
'Raymond'  is  likely  to  lead  many  of  such  ignorant 
people,  who  had  much  better  not  do  so,  to  go  to 
professional  mediums,  and  is  likely  to  increase  a  very 
undesirable  trade." 

I  will  conclude  this  rather  depressing,  but  most 
necessary,  chapter  with  a  few  general  remarks  on  my 
subject. 

Mr.  E.  Maitland  was  convinced  at  a  Spiritist 
seance  that  he  was  a  reincarnation  of  St.  John; 
while  one  communication  he  received  was  from  the 
angel  Gabriel.  (Curious  to  say,  my  reader's  surmise 
is  wrong,  he  was  not  mad.)  Mr.  J.  Arthur  Hill, 
a  well-known  writer  on  Spiritism,  remarks:  "This 
kind  of  thing  is  dangerous.  Avoid  automatic 
writing  unless  you  are  prepared  to  treat  everything 
with  a  critical  sceptical  scrutiny. 

"There  does  seem  something  very  diabolic  in  the 
heartless  deception  which  they  (the  mediums)  so 
often  perpetuate.  I  do  not  take  the  communications 
seriously  as  regards  their  face  value;  but  there  is 
always  an  element  of  danger  (present)."* 

The  celebrated  medium,  D.  D.  Home,  felt  the 
spirits  that  controlled  him  were  gaining  entire 
mastery  of  his  whole  being,  and  gave  up  Spiritism 

*  "Spiritism,"  J.  Arthur  Hill,  pp.  91,  92. 


DANGERS  OF  SPIRITISM  195 

entirely,  and  joined  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 
(representing  to  him  the  orthodox  Christian  faith). 
The  spirit  control  ridiculed  his  escape,  but  promised 
to  leave  him  alone  for  one  year.  When  this  time 
was  expired,  Home  resumed  his  seances,  and  gave  a 
celebrated  one  before  Napoleon  III. 

In  1 88 1  Canon  Wilberforce  examined  into  Spiritism, 
and  believed  it  to  be  a  revival  of  pagan  mysteries 
and  practices.  This  probably  contains  more  than 
a  little  truth;  and,  if  so,  it  is  extremely  interesting 
and  instructive,  showing  continuity  of  thought 
somewhere,  in  spite  of  the  entire  want  of  human 
connection  between  a  New  England  family  in  Massa- 
chusetts and  Eastern  magic.  It  suggests,  indeed, 
thac  the  revival  of  Spiritist  practices  may  be  due 
rather  to  a  continuity  of  thought  and  purpose  in  the 
other  world  than  in  this. 

The  Rev.  W.  Stainton  Moses,  the  most  upright 
medium  ever  known,  who  held  the  almost  unique 
position  of  never  being  convicted  of  any  fraud,  was 
terribly  assailed  by  daemons  (?),  and  eventually 
gave  up  the  Christian  faith  entirely. 

A  member  of  the  S.P.R.  wrote  some  eighteen  years 
ago  on  Spiritism  for  two  purposes.  He  believed  in, 
and  sought  to  establish,  "First:  The  reality  of  the 
phenomena.  Second:  The  great  danger  of  the  whole 
pursuit."  Unbelievers  in  these  two  are  almost 
exclusively  those  who  have  not  investigated  the 
subject. 

F.  W.  H.  Myers  has  also  expressed  very  forcibly 
his  knowledge  of  the  great  dangers  which  are 
inseparable  from  Spiritism. 

I  could  continue  ad  nauseam.  Perhaps  I  have 

13—2 


i96  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

already  done  so, .  to  many  of  my  readers.  My 
apology  must  be  that  I  don't  want  to  recur  to  this 
subject. 

I  wish  to  present  a  truthful  picture  of  the  dangers, 
which  are  not  accidental  and  occasional  occurrences 
due  to  ignorance  in  controlling  the  phenomena; 
but  which,  on  the  contrary,  are  an  essential  factor 
of  them;  so  that  the  greater  the  advance  in  the 
study,  and  the  greater  the  experience,  the  greater 
the  danger  of  "possession." 

I  wish  to  show  that  the  terrible  warnings  of 
Scripture  against  all  forms  of  necromancy,  against 
all  attempts  of  communication  with  another  world, 
so  far  from  being,  as  is  so  generally  believed,  the 
foolish  prejudice  of  the  infancy  and  ignorance  of 
humanity,  to  be  now  dismissed  with  contempt  by 
the  matured  wisdom  and  great  knowledge  of  our 
time,  are,  to  our  dismay,  justified  on  every  side  by 
actual  scientific  experiment. 

Most  now  confess  the  phenomena  real;  also  the 
experiments  to  prove  the  existence  of  spirits  in 
another  world,  as  well  as  the  existence  of  the  "other 
world"  itself.  True,  it  was  not  apparently  necessary 
for  any  of  our  race  to  have  recourse  to  this  evidence, 
as  our  proud  boast  for  ages  has  been  in  a  Book 
which  foretold  all  this,  that  we  declared  we  believed 
was  inspired,  and  we  circulated  it  to  all  our  more 
benighted  brothers  in  millions  (see  reports  of  the 
British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society),  and  this  Book 
was,  as  I  have  said,  full  of  "the  other  world"  and 
contained  much  information  concerning  the  spirits 
inhabiting  it. 

I   fear   one   could  not   urge   that   the   studies   of 


DANGERS  OF  SPIRITISM  197 

Spiritists  have  been  conducted  with  the  pious  idea 
of  corroborating  its  statements,  for  all  studies 
in  necromancy  are  expressly  forbidden,  with 
what  is  now  seen  by  modern  science  to  be 
Divine  wisdom,  on  account  of  their  real  danger 
to  humanity. 

The  study  of  Spiritism,  generally  speaking,  is 
apparently  discouraged  by  all  scientists  who  have 
investigated  its  wonders,  and  on  the  very  remarkable 
ground  that  these  are  true,  but  unsafe  to  penetrate. 
It  is  undoubtedly  condemned  in  principle  and 
practice  by  the  Bible,  the  "corner-stone  of  England's 
greatness"  (see  "Life  and  Letters  of  Queen  Vic- 
toria"). Its  researches  are  proved  unnecessary  to 
all  believing  Christians,  who  already  know  (by  faith) 
more  than  it  can  ever  reveal. 

With  such  a  history  it  does  not  seem  too  much 
to  hope  that  the  sober  human  mind  will  recover 
itself  from  the  weak  curiosity  that  ever  gave 
Spiritism  countenance,  and  justify  its  having  arrived 
at  the  twentieth  century  of  the  faith  and  teaching 
of  our  great  Lord  and  Master,  by  renouncing  once 
more  the  Devil  and  all  his  works,  in  whatever  subtle 
and  specious  form  they  may  appeal  to  us,  either 
through  our  curiosity  or  through  our  affections. 


A  Few  Words  Only 

A  FEW,  only  a  very  few,  words  on  the  subject  of 
this  chapter  are  needed  if  we  are  to  have  a  complete 
picture  of  Modern  Spiritism.  It  might,  indeed,  be 
thought  by  some  that  all  through  we  have  inci- 
dentally come  across  so  many  failures,  and  such 
very  doubtful  successes,  that  further  exposure  is 
unnecessary. 

It  may  be  so;  yet  remembering  how  very  difficult 
it  is  to  deliver  and  undeceive  the  obsessed,  I  venture 
to  "pile  it  on"  a  little  more;  with  the  suggestion 
that  the  reader  who  is  already  sufficiently  con- 
vinced might  skip  this  short  chapter.  All  others 
should  read  it  for  their  own  good. 

With  regard  to  stances,  few  have  any  idea  how 
generally  they  fail  to  prove  anything.  Eusapia 
Palladino,  the  unrivalled  medium  of  Naples,  had 
in  a  short  time  twenty-seven  seances  where  nothing 
happened.  And  yet  she  never  scrupled  to  descend 
to  fraud  whenever  it  was  necessary  and  possible. 
That  skilled  and  reliable  medium,  the  Rev.  W. 
Stainton  Moses,  says  that  in  ninety-nine  out  of  one 
hundred  stances  people  do  not  get  what  they  want 
or  expect.  In  short,  seances  are  most  unsatisfactory. 


THE  FAILURES  OF  SPIRITISM         199 

It    must    be    remembered   that    failure    to    produce 
phenomena  is  better  than  their  fraudulent  imitation. 

Paralysed  Seances 

Suspicion  or  scepticism  (if  known)  seem  as  a  rule 
fatal  to  the  production  of  phenomena.  Sympathy, 
without  the  critical  faculty,  seems  essential.  All 
changes  in  the  ordinary  procedure  of  a  stance  seem 
to  paralyse  it — a  change  of  tables,  an  interruption 
by  a  sceptic,  etc.  It  may  be  noted,  in  contrast, 
that  our  Lord's  miracles  were  performed  on  occasions 
when  rampant  unbelief  was  present  (St.  Luke  viii. 
53;  St.  John  xii.  37). 

Trickery  is  common.  Eusapia  was  exposed  in 
America  for  fraud,  and  also  in  Italy.  (Excuse 
repetition.)  Mrs.  Butler,  a  medium  supported  by 
Sir  A.  Conan  Doyle,  was  twice  convicted  of  fortune- 
telling. 

White  Eagle,  a  supposed  North  American  Indian 
spirit  "control,"  always  spoke,  like  several  others, 
for  some  unknown  reason,  in  the  negro  dialect; 
while  the  two  Thomases,  well-known  mediums,  were 
both  proved  frauds. 

In  one  stance  with  a  masked  medium  the  apparent 
materialisation  of  a  spirit  appeared  so  absolutely 
genuine  that  it  was  not  until  Mr.  Sebil  (the  medium) 
admitted  that  its  production  was  purely  mechanical 
and  the  "clairvoyance"  accompanying  it  sheer 
trickery,  that  its  fraud  was  apparent. 

False  Statements 

False  statements  from  supposed  spirits  (of  the 
dead)  are  so  common  as  to  be  hardly  worth  recording. 


200  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

Sir  Walter  Scott  told  Dr.  Hodgson  that  he  had  seen 
a  planet  further  from  the  sun  than  Saturn,  and  said 
its  name  was  Mercury!  George  Eliot  said,  "I  don't 
know  as  there  is  enough  light  to  communicate."* 

Dr.  Funk,  the  well-known  New  York  psychologist, 
in  1878  sat  with  Mrs.  M.  Fox  Kane,  one  of  the  two 
Fox  sisters  (see  Chapter  II.)  who  started  Modern 
Spiritism  in  1847  by  cracking  their  knee  and  finger 
joints  to  produce  "spirit"  raps,  etc. 

The  spirit  controlling  the  medium  (Mrs.  Kane) 
said,  "I  am  John  Seitz.  I  died  nine  days  ago  at 
Springfield,  Ohio. " 

Two  days  after  this  Dr.  Funk  had  another  sitting 
with  the  same  medium.  Again  the  spirit  said: 
"I  am  John  Seitz.  I  died  eleven  days  ago  at  Spring- 
field, Ohio."  Dr.  Funk  wrote  to  his  sister,  who  replied 
John  Seitz  was  alive  and  well. 

The  Non-existent  Doctor 

Dr.  Phinuit,  the  celebrated  spirit  control  of  Mrs. 
Piper,  who  stated  he  was  formerly  a  French  doctor 
in  Marseilles,  has  been  shown,  not  to  be  what  he 
professed.  He  said  he  was  born  at  Marseilles  in 
1790,  and  died  in  Paris  in  1860.  Enquiries  fail  to 
give  any  trace  of  him.  He  had  no  knowledge  of 
medicine,  and  only  appeared  to  know  a  few  French 
phrases ! 

A  Madame  Dupont,  a  very  respectable  lady, 
received,  through  a  medium,  a  message  from 
"Rudolph,"  whom  she  knew,  stating  he  had  died 
at  eleven  that  evening,  and  giving  long  details  of 
his  last  hours.  Then  she  had  constant  seances,  at 

*  Quoted  from  British  Weekly, 


THE  FAILURES  OF  SPIRITISM          201 

each  of  which  "Rudolph's"  spirit  spoke  to  her  of 
its  experiences.  These  continued  until  a  letter  came 
from  him  stating,  incidentally,  that  he  was  in  perfect 
health. 

Lately,  Mr.  J.  Arthur  Hill  received  communica- 
tions from  Professor  Wm.  James,  Professor  Lom- 
broso,  of  Italy,  from  W.  T.  Stead,  and  from  King 
Edward  VII.,  stating  that  in  July  Great  Britain 
would  sink  beneath  the  sea ! 

A  Cruel  Case 

Warnings  of  coming  disaster  were  given  at  a 
Spiritist  seance  to  a  man  and  his  wife.  Believing 
these  to  be  true,  they  sold  up  their  home  and  left 
Mexico,  because  the  spirit  had  said  the  district 
would  be  destroyed  by  an  earthquake.  When  they 
arrived  in  New  York,  nearly  destitute,  they  attended 
another  seance,  and  there  the  spirit  told  them  they 
had  been  properly  fooled,  which  was  done  just  to 
show  them  they  were  to  have  "no  concern  with 
material  things!" 

Spiritism  is  sometimes  called  a  science;  but  it 
has  failed  to  make  its  claim  good  to  such  a  title. 

Professor  Richet  points  out  that  Spiritist  experi- 
ence is  in  direct  conflict  with  scientific  accuracy  and 
experience. 

Spiritism  not  a  Science 

Their  experiments  do  not  give  scientific  results; 
for  the  more  accurately  and  rigorously  they  are 
conducted,  the  fewer  and  more  uncertain  are  the 
phenomena  produced. 

Moreover,  and  this  is  fatal  to  scientific  claims, 
under  similar  conditions,  the  results  obtained  are 


202  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

far  from  being  identical.*  Sir  A.  Conan  Doyle, 
though  generally  very  dogmatic  and  credulous,  is 
at  times  a  keen  critic.  Respecting  the  famous  cross- 
correspondence  analyzed  by  Hon.  Gerald  Balfour  in 
the  S.P.R.  (Ear  of  Dionysius)  where  two  spirits  of 
Greek  scholars,  Professors  Verrall  and  Butcher,  are 
supposed  to  collaborate,  he  says:  "The  spirits  have 
the  use  of  a  very  good  library,  or  else  they  have 
memories  something  like  omniscience.  No  human 
memory  could  possibly  carry  all  the  exact  quota- 
tions which  occur  in  these  communications." 

Professor  Hyslop  noted  that  with  Mrs.  Piper, 
when  facts  were  asked  for  to  prove  the  identity  of 
the  supposed  "spirit,"  there  was  always  great 
difficulty  and  hesitation  in  replying,  although  the 
medium  was  voluble  and  fluent  before.  Mrs.  Sidg- 
wipk,  sitting  with  Mrs.  Piper  in  1899,  got  in  touch 
with  Moses,  the  great  lawgiver,  who  prophesied 
(falsely)  a  great  war  in  the  near  future,  in  which 
England  and  America  would  fight  France  and  Russia, 
and  Germany  would  take  no  part. 

A  Spiritist  writer  states:  "The  force  that  moves 
ponderous  objects  without  contact,  either  emanates 
from  the  spirits  of  the  dead  or  from  the  living." 
Here  is  an  unscientific  statement  in  accounting  for 
the  physical  phenomena;  for  it  is  more  likely  that 
the  force  emanates  from  neither,  but  from  spirits 
(not  discarnate)  in  another  world. 

Fraud  Everywhere 

Mr.  W.  T.  Stead  said  that  in  the  whole  of  the 
United  Kingdom  there  was  only  one  person  f  who 

"This  is  most  important  when  we  consider  its  scientific  claims. 
t  This  was  probably  erroneous. 


THE  FAILURES  OF  SPIRITISM         203 

could  materialise  spirits,  and  who  was  of  undoubted 
integrity — a  Mrs.  Mellor;  and  yet  she  was  after- 
wards detected  in  the  grossest  fraud  in  Sydney. 

Mr.  Bishop,  the  well-known  thought-reader,  could 
give  the  contents  of  sealed  envelopes  with  perfect 
ease,  and  had  read  them  hundreds  of  times;  but 
when  Mr.  Labouchere  put  a  bank-note  for  a  large  sum 
of  money  in  an  envelope  and  offered  it  to  Mr.  Bishop 
if  he  could  read  the  number  of  it,  he  failed  to  do  so 
in  spite  of  the  most  determined  attempts.  Only  by 
this  means  was  it  discovered  that  his  supposed  power 
was  a  fraud. 

In  Spiritism,  however,  no  such  exposures  seem 
to  be  a  bar  to  faith.  Many  of  the  best  phenomena 
it  has  produced  are  from  convicted  impostors. 

Contradictory  Necromancy 

Turning  to  attempts  at  necromancy,  we  find  the 
same  trickery  and  fraud  prevailing.  These  "de- 
parted spirits,"  as  we  have  already  shown,  teach 
different  and  conflicting  faiths  in  different  countries. 
In  France  re-incarnation  is  taught;  in  England  it 
is  denied.  It  is  thus  found  that  the  disembodied 
spirits  of  Kardec  in  France,  of  Stainton  Moses  in 
England,  of  Swedenborg  in  Sweden,  of  Mrs.  Piper 
in  America,  give  absolutely  contradictory  messages. 
No  doubt  this  is  accounted  for  by  the  phenomena 
of  the  unconscious  mind  and  telepathy,  which,  of 
course,  negatives  "spirits."  Andrew  Lang  does 
not  believe  in  Mrs.  Piper's  communications  with  the 
dead,  and  "considers  that  all  coming  from  her  is 
worthless." 


204  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

The  spirits  that  love  to  personate  great  men — 
Carlyle  and  Cardinal  Newman — know  nothing  about 
the  books  these  have  written;  you  find  a  Shake- 
speare who  can't  spell;  and  a  Bacon  with  no  ideas 
of  anything.  You  find  a  Cardinal  Newman  who 
knows  no  Latin,  a  Julius  Caesar  ignorant  of  geog- 
raphy, and  a  George  Eliot  who  has  forgotten  her 
grammar.  In  1898,  in  a  test  case,  when  the  spirit 
of  the  Rev.  Stainton  Moses  was  professing  to  speak 
to  Mrs.  Piper,  it  failed  completely  to  disclose  the 
three  secret  names  Mr.  Moses  had  given  to  Mr.  Myers 
before  he  died. 

The  Desire  to  Believe 

The  Times  reports  that  "in  the  course  of  some 
amusing  'confessions'  Professor  Jacks  (President 
of  the  S.P.R.)  emphasized  the  powerful  influence 
of  the  'desire  to  believe,'  and  its  overpowering  in- 
fluence on  the  exercise  of  common  reason.  'While, 
at  times,  it  actually  seemed  as  if  he  were  communi- 
cating with  departed  spirits,  at  others  this  feeling 
was  rudely  broken  by  triviality  and  foolishness.' 
He  discussed  the  analogy  of  spirit-seeking  with 
dreams,  and  said  'that  if  a  person  once  committed 
himself  to  the  statement  that  he  believed  in  spirits 
he  would  fight  to  the  last  ditch  until  every  vestige 
of  regard  for  facts  would  be  thrown  to  the  winds.'  ' 
One  instinctively  feels  the  truth  of  this. 

The  discarnate  spirits  of  Melanchthon  and  of  the 
Catholic  wife  of  Luther  are  both  voluble  in  modern 
German,  which  they  never  knew. 

On  December  i3th,  1914,  Sir  Oliver  Lodge  and 
the  S.P.R.  opened  a  sealed  envelope  written  by 


THE  FAILURES  OF  SPIRITISM         205 

F.  W.  H.  Myers  in  1907  as  a  test,  and  compared  it 
with  what  the  medium  had  said  was  in  it,  and  there 
was  no  resemblance  whatever. 

Messages  from  Myths 

"It  is  just  as  easy,"  says  Thoman  Jay  Hudson, 
"to  obtain  a  communication  from  a  living  person 
(supposed  to  be  dead)  as  from  one  actually  dead, 
and  just  as  easy  from  an  imaginary  as  from  an 
actual  person." 

Mr.  Hudson  has  had  very  affectionate  messages 
of  a  most  touching  nature  from  an  imaginary  sister, 
and  also  from  himself,  he  being  supposed  to  be  at  the 
time  his  own  brother  (while  he  was  believed  to  have 
died  years  before).  All  the  time  he  never  had  a 
brother  or  a  sister!  We  make  no  comments  on 
these  facts,  so  disastrous  to  Spiritism;  but  before 
reaching  our  chapter  on  the  relations  of  Spiritism 
to  Christianity,  we  may  draw  our  own  conclusion 
on  its  relation  to  truth.  That  of  others  is  well  ex- 
pressed in  Mr.  Frank  Podmore's  (S.P.R.)  book: 
"No  positive  results  have  been  obtained  worthy  of 
record."  My  own  opinion  is  as  follows. 

It  is  more  than  doubtful  whether,  in  spite  of  its 
useless  marvels  and  sustained  efforts  for  half  a 
century,  Spiritism  has  revealed  any  truth  whatever 
concerning  another  world  or  has  had  any  actual 
communication  with  any  departed  spirit.  Some 
things,  as  yet  unaccounted  for,  are  not  sufficiently 
established  as  facts  to  invalidate  these  statements. 


CHAPTER  XII 

SPIRITISM  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

"Beloved,  believe  not  every  spirit,  but  prove  the  spirits 
whether  they  are  of  God." — i  JOHN  iv.  i. 

"But  the  Spirit  saith  expressly,  that  in  latter  times  some  shall 
fall  away  from  the  faith,  giving  heed  to  seducing  spirits  and 
doctrines  of  demons." — I  TIMOTHY  iv.  i. 

"And  I  saw  coming  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  dragon,  and  out 
of  the  mouth  of  the  beast,  and  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  false 
prophet,  three  unclean  spirits,  as  it  were  frogs:  for  they  are 
spirits  of  demons,  working  signs." — REVELATION  xvi.  13,  14. 

Nothing  Proved 

HITHERTO  we  have  examined  Spiritism  on  rational 
grounds,  and  have  found  it  is  exceedingly  probable 
that  so  far  nothing  has  really  been  discovered,  and 
nothing  proved  of  the  unseen  or  unknown;  and  the 
craving  of  unbelievers  in  Christianity  to  know  the 
secrets  of  the  other  world  has  not  been  satisfied. 

Christians  have  no  such  cravings,  and  where  faith 
is  operative  and  the  revelation  of  another  world  and 
of  life  after  death  is  clear  and  definite,  they  do  not 
feel  inclined  to  spend  hours  in  doubtful  company, 
witnessing  untold  absurdities,  and  listening  to 
incoherent,  blasphemous,  or  most  commonplace 
utterances,  from  a  more  or  less  entranced  woman 
(too  often,  I  regret  to  say,  of  somewhat  doubtful 
reputation),  respecting  either  the  mighty  dead,  or 
some  loved  but  absent  one. 


SPIRITISM  AND  CHRISTIANITY       207 

Communion  with  the  Dead 

Their  real  communion  in  spirit  with  such  is  far 
better  enjoyed  in  their  common  nearness  to  their 
beloved  Lord,  whose  presence  they  trust  their  dear 
ones  are  now  enjoying;  and  in  such  communion  it 
is  best  realized  how  thin  is  the  veil  between  those 
who  live  in  the  Lord  and  those  who  die  in  the  Lord. 

As  we  shall  see,  Spiritism  may  have  a  cer- 
tain value  for  unbelievers;  but  first  of  all  we 
must  understand  what  Modern  Spiritism  really  is. 
So  far  we  have  only  examined  its  phenomena, 
physical  and  psychical.  It  will  now  be  our  business 
to  examine  its  dogmas  and  its  doctrines,  its  position 
as  a  new  religion,  and  its  claims  as  a  new  faith, 
worthy  to  supersede  Christianity,  which,  to  many  of 
our  modern  "deep  thinkers,"  has  become  entirely 
impossible  and  completely  out  of  touch  with  the 
spirit  of  the  age  (we  confess  this  latter  is  both 
possible  and  probable). 

Spiritism  then,  we  are  told,  is  "the  new  interpreta- 
tion of  the  spirit  world  established  by  communica- 
tion with  the  dead  (necromancy);  as  shown  by 
psychic  and  physical  phenomena."  (This  last,  we 
have  shown,  cannot  possibly  prove  anything  of  the 
sort.) 

Spiritists  generally  believe  that  there  are  no 
spirits  in  the  other  world  but  those  of  the  departed; 
in  other  words,  that  they  are  all  human. 

Spiritism  Anti-Christian 

"Spiritism,"  wrote  Stainton  Moses,  "is  a  revolu- 
tion (not  simply  a  reform)  from  the  Christian  idea; 


208  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

which  is  drawing  out  a  lingering  life,  choked  by  the 
incubus  of  sacerdotalism,  and  human  theology." 

Sir  Arthur  Conan  Doyle,  some  fifty  years  later, 
says:  "The  physical  basis  of  all  psychic  belief  is  that 
the  soul  is  a  complete  duplicate  of  the  body,  resem- 
bling it  in  the  smallest  particular,  although  con- 
structed in  some  far  more  tenuous  material.  In 
death  there  is  a  complete  separation  between  the 
two  bodies,  and  life  is  carried  on  entirely  by  the 
lighter  of  the  two." 

It  is  probably  useless  to  urge  that  science  has 
not  admitted  this  contention,  and  that  the  whole 
statement  is  pure  dogmatism. 

"When  St.  Paul  said,  'a  spiritual  body,'  he 
meant  a  body  which  contained  the  spirit,  and  yec  was 
distinct  from  the  old  material  body.  That  is  exaccly 
what  psychological  science  has  now  shown  to  be 
true."  (Refer  back  to  Chapters  IV.  and  VI.  to 
show  how  "Raymond"  and  others  contradict  all 
that  Sir  Conan  Doyle  here  teaches.) 

The  Spiritist  Dogma 

The  seven  principles  of  the  Spiritist  dogma  are 
said  to  be : — 

1.  The  fear  of  God. 

2.  The  brotherhood  of  man. 

3.  Continuous  existence. 

4.  The  communion  of  saints. 

5.  Present  responsibility. 

6.  Compensation  and  retribution  for  good  or  ill. 

7.  A  path  of  endless  progress. 

There  are  also  seven  spheres  of  probation  (Theo- 
sophic).  There  is  the  rejection  of  good,  which  is  the 


SPIRITISM  AND  CHRISTIANITY        209 

"one  unpardonable  sin"  (!);  and  there  is  punish- 
ment for  all  sin.  Spiritism  thus  becomes  daily  less 
and  less  of  a  scientific  research,  and  more  and  more 
of  a  religion  and  a  rival  to  Christianity. 

It  is  found,  practically,  that  a  true  Spiritist  soon 
ceases  to  be,  if  indeed  he  ever  was,  in  any  ordinary 
sense  of  the  word,  a  Christian. 

Spiritists  Non-Christians 

Spiritism  uncompromisingly  rejects  the  leading 
doctrines  of  the  Christian  faith,  including  the  "fall 
of  man." 

It  is  exultingly  predicted  that  in  ten  years  50  per 
cent,  of  the  civilised  world  will  be  Spiritist,  a 
prospect  which  most  will  regard  with  very  mixed 
feelings,  and  possibly  some  incredulity. 

Spiritists  exalt  their  lofty  claims  and  aims,  and 
declare  that  if  the  lacter  are  really  high  and  noble, 
they  only  attract  high  and  noble  spirits.  It  is  some- 
what remarkable,  if  there  be  any  truth  in  this,  that 
the  reverse  is  what  is  generally  observed.  If  one 
wants  to  see  what  is  fraudulent,  ignoble,  and  debased, 
it  is,  I  fear,  in  a  Spiritist  seance  that  they  may  be 
most  surely  met  with. 

The  Perispirit 

Dr.  Marcel  Viollet,  in  1910,  says  that  "The 
Spiritist  doctrine  is  that  the  soul  in  life  is  attached 
to  the  body  by  four  or  seven  principles:  one  of 
which,  called  the  'perispirit'  (astral  body),  clothes 
the  soul  after  death.  Later  on  the  perispirit  is 
re-incarnated  (at  any -rate,  in  France)  according  to 
the  Py'-.hagorean  theory.  These  souls  (with  their 


210  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

perispirits) ,  good  and,  bad,  are  all  around  us  every- 
where." Such  is  the  hypothesis  of  Spiritism.  The 
astral  body,  more  particularly,  is  said  (with  equal 
"truth")  to  be  constructed  of  "bound"  ether,  which 
Fresnel  and  others  have  shown  to  be  denser  than 
"ordinary"  ether  (which  is  thousands  of  times 
denser  than  steel).  Perhaps  Sir  Oliver  Lodge  may  find 
time  (if  he  has  patience  enough)  to  tell  us  if  this  be 
true.  Sir  Oliver  observes  that  "there  is  after  all, 
no  great  change  in  the  next  world,  but  all  here 
appears  less  important.  This,"  he  says,  "has  been 
known  over  a  century"  (with  regard  to  the  latter 
half  of  the  sentence  he  might  have  said  "over 
nineteen"). 

A  50  per  cent.  Chance 

W.  T.  Stead  tells  us  that  "Cecil  Rhodes  devoted 
much  thought  to  the  question  whether  or  not 
there  was  a  God"  (such  a  question  certainly 
requires  a  good  deal  of  thought,  even  when  of  the 
capacity  of  a  Cecil  Rhodes),  "and  he  came  to 
the  (somewhat  lame)  conclusion  that  there  was  a 
50  per  cent,  chance  that  there  was"  (forgive  the 
irreverence). 

"Is  there  a  similar  chance,"  asks  Stead,  "that 
death  does  not  end  all."  (More,  I  should  say.) 

"How  then,"  he  continues,  "can  we  arrive 
at  certainty."  (We  should  suggest,  by  the  same 
means  that  we  are  certain  that  Saturn  has  a  ring, 
or  Jupiter  moons;  that  is,  by  faith  in  the  evidence 
of  others:  in  this  case  in  the  living  God,  who  is 
more  than  a  50  per  cent,  chance  to  all  reverent 
men.) 


SPIRITISM  AND  CHRISTIANITY      211 

S.P.R.  and  Spiritism 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  with  Spiritism  must 
be  closely  associated  (however  little  they  like  it) 
the  S.P.R. ,  whose  annual  volumes  are  now  fully 
occupied  in  verifying  (or  otherwise)  Spiritist  phe- 
nomena. There  can  be  no  doubt  that,  though  they 
do  not  blindly  support  it,  or  profess  any  opinions 
concerning  it,  they  give  a  sort  of  semi-scientific 
"cachet"  to  its  somewhat  dubious  proceedings 
that  is  still  sorely  needed.  I  am  glad  to  be  able  to 
acknowledge  here  that  on  the  ethical  side,  setting 
aside  for  the  moment  the  immense  harm  it  has  done, 
Spiritism  has  done  some  good,  but  only  to  unbe- 
lievers. 

It  claims,  indeed,  that  the  "stupid  materialism 
of  yesterday  has  been  exploded  by  the  facts  of 
Spiritism.  The  blind  infidelity  of  the  past  has  given 
place  to  a  craving  to  get  in  touch  with  the  realities 
of  the  unseen  world."  This  witness  is  partly  true; 
but,  as  I  said,  it  is  only  "blind  infidelity"  that  has 
been  instructed;  and  not,  I  fear,  in  the  "realities" 
of  the  unseen  world,"  for  these  are,  as  I  shall  show, 
entirely  unknown  to  Spiritism,  but  in  the  bare  fact 
of  its  existence. 

Holman  Hunt  and  Ruskin 

For  instance,  Holman  Hunt  said  to  Ruskin,  "When 
last  we  met  you  declared  you  had  given  up  all  belief 
in  immortality. 

"I  remember  well,"  said  Ruskin,  "but  what  has 
mainly  caused  the  change  in  my  views  is  the  un- 
answerable evidence  of  Spiritism.  With  this  once 

proved  I  have  no  further  interest  in  Spiritism." 

14—2 


212 

The  justification  which  Spiritism  claims  for  its 
existence  is  the  grossly  exaggerated  assertion  that 
"a  spirit  world  is  everywhere  denied."  (This  was 
never  true,  and  since  the  decline  of  materialism,  for 
the  last  fifty  years,  has  become  glaringly  false.) 

It  is  probable  that,  so  far,  Spiritism  itself  has 
been  one  of  the  factors  in  this  decline  of  material- 
ism (towards  which,  curiously  enough,  its  (supposed) 
materialisations  may  have  helped).  One  would 
imagine,  however,  to  listen  to  its  claims,  that  it 
was  really  responsible,  as  a  sort  of  spiritual  Colum- 
bus, for  actually  discovering  a  new  world!  There  is 
not  one  word  from  these  "discoverers"  of  apology  to 
God  or  the  Bible,  for  unbelief  in  their  revelation  of 
the  very  same  truth,  which,  far  from  being  brought 
to  light  by  Spiritism,  had  been  made  known  to  all 
men  since  the  present  age  began. 

Survival  after  Death 

The  desire  to  verify  survival  after  death  is  the  in- 
evitable outcome  of  loss  of  faith  in  revealed  religion. 
To  the  humblest  believer  all  the  boasted  discoveries 
of  Spiritism  which  are  true  have  ever  been  undoubted 
facts. 

Professor  Lombroso  says  he  is  not  a  Spiritist, 
because  they  believe  the  soul  came  from  God,  whereas 
he  believes  otherwise;  a  statement  which  shows 
Spiritism  in  a  favourable  light. 

Sir  Oliver  Lodge,  in  a  striking  passage,  widely 
quoted,  and  of  great  beauty,  even  if  of  little  accuracy, 
suggests  that  "the  wall  between  the  two  worlds  is 
getting  thin  in  places;  and  that  we  now  begin  to  hear 
sounds  from  the  other  side." 


SPIRITISM  AND  CHRISTIANITY       213 

Surely  these  "sounds"  have  been  heard  by  man 
from  the  earliest  ages,  and  are  recorded  throughout 
the  Bible,  as  well  as  in  history. 

The  general  belief  now  seems  to  be,  not  that  the 
wall  is  thinning,  but  that  the  wall  between  the  two 
worlds  for  the  last  few  hundred  years  is  certainly 
thicker  than  in  the  early  days  of  human  history, 
when  intercourse  between  the  two  sides  seemed 
easier.  That  Spiritism  has  really  "thinned  the  wall" 
is  still  rather  doubtful.  Something  must  be  allowed, 
however,  to  enthusiasts,  of  which  Sir  Oliver  Lodge 
is  certainly  one. 

True  Spiritualism 

Consider  for  one  moment,  in  contrast  to  Modern 
Spiritism,  what  I  venture  to  call  the  true  Spiritualism 
of  the  Christian  and  of  Scripture.  There  is  no 
scientist  or  philosopher  but  can  discern  the  moral 
difference  of  the  two  atmospheres,  to  say  nothing  of 
the  certainty  and  clearness  of  the  statements  of  the 
one  and  the  almost  unintelligible  mysticism  of  the 
other. 

Many  think  it  very  unfair  for  those  who  believe 
in  a  spiritual  world  and  in  future  existence  to  reject 
Spiritism;  but  the  two  are  in  no  way  linked  to- 
gether, and  the  spiritual  and  future  existence  of 
man,  as  described  in  Spiritist  teaching,  is,  in  nearly 
every  detail,  in  direct  contradiction  to  Scripture. 
To  Spiritism,  survival  after  death  is  a  theory  to  be 
proved;  to  Spiritualism,  it  is  a  fact  to  be  believed. 

It  will  be  observed  that  throughout  this  work  I 
have  reserved  the  word  "Spiritism"  for  the  modern 
cult,  and  "Spiritualism"  for  those  mysteries  of  the 


2i4  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

Unseen  that   are   revealed  to  us  in   Scripture.     It 
may  be  that  by  this  and  similar  usage  the  two  ex- 
pressions will  gradually  become  so  distinct  that  the 
one  will  mean  almost  the  reverse  of  the  other. 
True  and  False  Gnosis 

The  two,  indeed,  constitute  largely  the  false  and 
true  "ywoais":  of  which,  in  early  days,  the  Gnostic 
heresy  was  the  exponent  of  the  former,  and 
Christianity  of  the  latter.  The  gospel  of  St.  John 
was  undoubtedly  written  partly  to  combat  the 
former. 

It  requires  no  extreme  stretch  of  imagination  to 
see  much  in  Spiritism  that  recalls  the  tenets  of 
Gnosticism;  far  easier,  indeed,  than  to  see  what  it 
has  in  common  with  Christianity. 

Sir  A.  Conan  Doyle,  who  arduously  endeavours  to 
link  Spiritism  with,  at  any  rate,  some  fragments  of 
Christianity,  says  that  the  early  Church  was  saturated 
with  Spiritism.  If  he  means  the  very  early  Church,  it 
was  with  the  true  Spiritualism  that  it  was  saturated; 
if  he  means  that  of  even  one  or  two  centuries  later, 
it  is  true,  for  it  soon  fell  into  all  sorts  of  heresies. 
The  Christian  faith  is  not  founded,  however,  on  the 
early  Church,  but  on  the  Bible.  *  Spiritualism,  as  I  use 
the  word,  is  then  the  essence  and  doctrine  of  Scrip- 
ture, of  Christian  philosophy,  and  of  truth.  In  his 
book  he  also  says,  in  his  new  role  of  apostle  of  "The 
New  Revelation,"  that  "no  religion  upon  earth  has 

*  It  is  useless  to  say  that  it  was  the  early  Church  that  gave 
Christians  their  Bible.  It  is  simply  not  true.  It  was  given  by 
God  alone,  and  our  Bible  was  everywhere  already  circulating 
as  the  Word  of  God  amongst  Christians  when  the  early  Church 
ratified  their  decision  by  its  authority. 


SPIRITISM  AND  CHRISTIANITY       215 

any  advantage  over'  another,  but  that  character 
and  refinement  are  everything.  Every  form  may 
have  a  purpose  for  somebody." 

Opposed  to  this  the  Rev.  F.  Fielding  Quid,  a 
Spiritist,  says:  "No  one  has  a  right  to  call  himself 
a  Christian  unless  he  believes  in  the  Divinity  of 
Jesus  Christ.  On  the  truth  of  our  Lord's  Divinity 
the  Church  is  erected.  It  is  upon  that  rock  that 
Modern  Spiritism  is  in  imminent  danger  of  being 
shipwrecked.  In  the  Spiritist  hymn-book  and 
prayers  the  name  of  Jesus  is  omitted,  and  the  motto 
of  many  is  'Every  man  his  own  saviour.'  ' 

Sir  A.  Conan  Doyle,*  however,  believes  that  the 
Churches  must  accept  the  dogmas  of  Spiritism  or 
perish. 

Spirit  and  Soul 

I  have  used,  largely,  the  word  "psychic"  on  its 
current  Spiritist  usage  of  "spiritual,"  which,  really 
and  critically,  it  does  not  connote  at  all. 

One  of  the  great  defects  of  Spiritism  scientifically 
is  that  it  does  not  adequately,  if  at  all,  distinguish 
between  irvevna  (pneuma),  spirit  and  ^UXTJ  (psuche), 
soul.  It  is  the  latter  which  may  be  associated 
after  death  with  a  bodily  form  (as  seen  in  appari- 
tions). The  former  is  without  form,  and  is  that 
which,  in  the  blessed  dead,  "departs  to  be  with 
Christ,  which  is  very  far  (lit.  )  better, "  and  which  at 
the  resurrection  (a  fact  totally  ignored  in  Spiritism) 
will  be  clothed  (but  not  at  death,  as  all  Spiritists 
believe)  with  its  spiritual  body. 

To   misuse   these    two   words,    then,    causes   con- 

*  See  British  Weekly  for  July,  1919. 


216  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

fusion  in  any  exact  argument.  "The  word  of 
God"  is  stated  to  be  "sharper  than  any  two-edged 
sword,"  because  it  can  (which  Spiritism  cannot) 
pierce  even  to  the  dividing  of  psuche  and  pneuma — 
of  soul  and  spirit. 

These,  in  Modern  Spiritism,  seem  inextricably 
confounded. 

The  New  Revelation 

Before  proceeding  definitely  to  contrast  Chris- 
tianity and  Spiritism,  it  will  be,  perhaps,  best  to  lay 
bare  a  little  further  the  tenets  of  the  latter,  for 
these  are  not  generally  known  at  all,  whereas  all 
have  a  knowledge,  more  or  less  clear,  of  the  funda- 
mental and  unchanging  doctrines  of  Christianity. 
Modern  Spiritism  attractively  describes  itself  as  a 
new  revelation:  "just  as  the  Christian  revelation 
succeeded  the  Mosaic,  so  does  the  Spiritist  succeed 
the  Christian!"  We  are  not  told,  however,  the 
important  point,  who  in  this  last  "revelation" 
represents  either  Moses  or  the  Lord  Christ  ? 

I  am  very  sorry  that  Sir.  A.  Conan  Doyle,  whose 
strenuous  efforts  to  assimilate  the  new  revelation 
to  the  old  are  deserving  of  some  praise,  should  have 
permitted  himself  to  speak  of  the  Divine  Son  as  "a 
broad-minded  model,  always  progressive,  and  open 
to  new  ideas!  Full  of  robust  common  sense,  but 
(forgive  the  blasphemy)  occasionally  losing  his 
temper."  One  can  hardly  tell  whether  the  praise  or 
the  blasphemy  is  the  more  offensive ;  both  are  utterly 
unworthy  of  Sir  A.  Conan  Doyle.* 

*  It  is  a  most  significant  fact  that  any  connection  with  Spirit- 
ism always  lowers,  in  some  way  or  other,  and  never  raises  the 
reputation  of  a  man,  however  eminent  otherwise. 


SPIRITISM  AND  CHRISTIANITY       217 

Allan  Car  dec  pointed  out,  fifty  years  before,  that 
while  the  Old  Testament  was  the  first  law  of  God, 
the  New  Testament  was  the  second  in  Christ,  and 
Spiritism  is  now  the  third  revealed  law  of  God.  Is 
this  the  source  of  Sir  A.  Conan  Doyle's  remarks? 
To  talk  of  Spiritism  as  "a  law"  seems  almost  more 
confusing  and  ridiculous  than  to  think  of  it  as  "a 
revelation." 

Change  or  Perish 

Sir  A.  Conan  Doyle  says  that  Christianity  must 
"either  change  or  perish."  There  can  be  no  doubt, 
however,  that  it  is  just  -in  proportion  as  it  has  changed 
that  it  has  perished. 

He  sees  "no  justice  in  a  vicarious  sacrifice, 
none!"  Nor  in  "redemption  from  sin,"  nor  in 
"cleansing  by  the  blood  of  the  Lamb,"  when  it 
has  become  certain  that  man  has  not  fallen.  "There 
never  was  any  evidence  of  the  fall  of  man."*  "But 
if  no  fall,  what  becomes  of  atonement,  redemption, 
and  original  sin?"  (What,  indeed?  but  the  "if" 
is  a  big  one.) 

He  further  says,  "Spiritism  is  only  fatal  to  one 
religion."  (I  wish  he  would  say  which  he  means;  it 
cannot  be  Christianity,  for  it  is  still  alive !) 

He  points  out  that,  in  his  opinion,  "Christ  has 
done  no  more  for  man  than  thousands  in  the  war." 

All  this  is  pretty  bad,  and,  if  true,  certainly  destruc- 
tive of  Christianity;  and  yet  we  read  further  on, 
"As  Christ  said,  'I  am  not  come  to  destroy  the  law 
but  to  fulfil  it,'  so  Spiritism  says,  'I  (who  is  the 

*  Many,  however,  since  the  horrible  revelations  of  the  late 
war  have  come  to  believe  in  it  again. 


2x8  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

ego?)  have  not  come  to  destroy  Christianity  but 
to  fulfil  it.'"  (This,  at  least,  makes  it  clear  Spiritism 
does  not  desire  to  be  fatal  to  it;  as  the  same  writer 
states  elsewhere.) 

Blood-Shedding  Abhorrent 

The  Rev.  W.  Stainton  Moses,  a  clergyman  of  the 
Church  of  England,  under  the  influence  of  Spiritism 
gives  utterance  to  some  remarkable  views.  He  can 
find  no  place  for  redemption  or  atonement,  and 
declares  that  the  entire  concept  of  blood-shedding  is 
abhorrent  to  the  spirit  world.  (Which  spirit  world? 
Of  the  good  we  read,  "Worthy  art  thou  .  .  .  for 
thou  wast  slain,  and  did'st  purchase  unto  God  with 
thy  blood,  men  of  every  tribe,  and  tongue,  and 
people,  and  nation." — Rev.  v.  9.) 

He  writes  further:  "The  idea  of  a  good  (sic)  God 
sacrificing  his  sinless  Son  as  a  propitiation  for  man 
is  repudiated  as  monstrous.  Man  is  his  own  saviour." 
(Has  he  forgotten  that  the  "sinless  Son"  "offered 
Himself  without  spot  to  God.") 

The  Rev.  W.  Stainton  Moses  absolutely  denies  Hell 
(not  so  Swedenborg);  it  drops  out  altogether,  as  an 
"odious  and  blasphemous  conception"  (of  the 
Bible!). 

No  Vicarious  Sacrifice 

He  is  quite  clear,  not  only  that  no  vicarious 
sacrifice  is  required,  but  that  no  anthropomorphism 
takes  place,  "as  in  our  creed"  (his  creed  also). 

It  is  true  elsewhere  he  writes  of  the  multitude 
and  malignity  of  evil  spirits;  but  there  is  no  Devil. 
Further,  "Far  too  much  stress  is  laid  on  Christ's  death. 


SPIRITISM  AND  CHRISTIANITY       219 

It's  no  uncommon  thing  to  die  for  an  idea'1  (an  idea! 
To  such  has  he  reduced  the  salvation  of  man.) 

And  yet,  as  we  see  in  some  of  the  beautiful  words 
of  "Julia,"  that  the  one  who  becomes  as  "the  angel 
of  light"  (2  Cor.  xi.)  leaves  us  in  Spiritism  all  the 
expressions  of  Christianity,  save  what  is  vital.  By 
degrees  the  foundation  truths  of  Christianity  are 
discredited,  one  by  one. 

Stainton  Moses  could  not  ignore  the  fact  that  the 
foundations  of  Christianity  were  practically  upset 
by  Spiritist  teaching.  He  was  much  startled  at 
first  by  the  way  the  central  dogmas  were  specially 
attacked;  though  afterwards,  as  we  have  seen,  he 
joined  in  the  attack  himself. 

Science  and  Spiritism 

Sir  Wm.  Barrett  tries  to  steer  clear  of  all  this.  He 
says  that  "psychic  research  is  quite  distinct  from 
religion."  This  is  true  if  you  confine  the  expression 
to  the  S.P.R.  But  it  is  often  used  for  Spiritism, 
which  Sir  A.  Conan  Doyle  says  "is  religion." 

The  Sunday  Times  for  August  zoth,  1919,  has  an 
earnest  article  by  Mrs.  G.  C.  Miln,  a  well-known 
Christian  Scientist,*  on  Science  and  Spiritism. 
She  hopes  and  longs  for  a  rapprochement  between 
the  two,  and  is  apparently  quite  aware  that  the 
gap  between  them  is  rapidly  widening,  now  that 
Sir  Wm.  Crookes,  W.  H.  F.  Myers,  Dr.  A.  Russel 
Wallace,  and  others  of  like  calibre,  are  no  longer 
with  us. 

*  The  word  "science"  is  surely  inappropriate  here,  if  its  work 
is  research  and  not  dogma;  neither  Spiritism  nor  Mrs.  Eddy's 
cult  are  scientific. 


220  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

No  Dogmas  in  Science 

The  true  reason,  however,  of  the  separation  is 
not  the  loss  of  these  eminent  savants,  but  the 
persistent  efforts  of  men  like  Sir  A.  Conan  Doyle, 
and  even  Sir  Oliver  Lodge,  to  propound  dogmas  and 
doctrines,  based  on  Spiritism,  which  are  utterly 
alien  to,  and  destructive  of,  any  remnant  of  the 
true  scientific  spirit.  Once  Spiritism  becomes  really 
limited,  as  Sir  Wm.  Barrett  longs,  to  a  department 
of  psychic  research,  and  foreswears  dogma  of  every 
description,  though  it  would  be  no  nearer  Chris- 
tianity, it  would  not,  at  any  rate,  be  stultified  in  the 
eyes  of  scientists,  as  it  is  now.  It  seems  to  me  that 
Sir  A.  Conan  Doyle's  somewhat  ambitious  attempts 
to  play  a  leading  part  in  founding  a  new  religion 
are  already  reacting  disastrously  on  Spiritism, 
and  I  much  doubt  that  the  watered  Theosophy  of 
"Raymond"  will  commend  it  more.  All  truth  is 
sacred  and  is  of  God;  and  so  long  as  scientists  give 
us  facts  and  not  theories,  still  less  dogmas  or  doc- 
trines, so  far  are  they  working  in  a  good  cause. 
Mrs.  Miln,  in  her  article,  seems  wholly  unconscious 
of  the  real  trouble,  which  is  that  Sir  A.  Conan  Doyle 
says  that  "Spiritism  is  a  religion;  and  Science  has 
nothing  to  do  wich  religions." 

• 

Theosophy 

But  to  return:  the  Modern  Spiritist  doctrine  of 
continued  progress  from  sphere  to  sphere  is  usually 
derived,  through  Theosophy,  from  the  old  pagan 
mysteries.  This  present  life  is  no  longer  regarded, 
as  in  Scripture,  as  a  stadium  in  which  one  runs  a  race 


SPIRITISM  AND  CHRISTIANITY       221 

to  obtain  a  prize,  but  one  of  the  many  halting 
stations  on  a  long,  long  trail. 

Maeterlinck,  who  is  so  puzzled  and  worried  by 
the  phenomena,  not  the  doctrines,  of  Spiritism, 
seems  equally  anti-Christian  in  his  beliefs. 

He  says:  "Theosophy  is  immeasurably  superior 
to  that  of  the  barbaric  Heaven,  and  the  monstrous 
Hell  of  the  Christian,  where  rewards  and  punish- 
ments are  for  ever  meted  out  to  virtues  and  vices, 
which  are  for  the  most  part  puerile,  unavoidable,  or 
accidental." 

"In  facing  death,"  he  says,  "let  us  lose  no  time 
in  putting  from  our  minds  all  that  the  positive 
religions  have  left  there."  (He  does  not  say  what  is  to 
take  their  place.) 

After  all  this,  is  it  any  wonder  that  we  find  in 
Galatians  v.  20,  among  the  "works  of  the  flesh," 
"sorcery?" 

Sorcery  Forbidden 

Turning  now  to  the  Scriptural  denunciation  of  all 
attempts  to  penetrate  the  mysteries  of  the  other 
world,  further  than  what  is  revealed,  I  think  it 
worth  while  to  record  here,  for  reference,  a  list  of 
these  warnings,  which,  of  course,  the  somewhat 
jaded  reader  may  skip  if  he  wishes,  as  the  remainder 
will  still  be  intelligible  without  reading  them  all 
through.  The  principal  ones  are  as  follows  (I  quote 
throughout  from  the  Revised  Version) : — 

"Thou  shalt  not  suffer  a  sorceress  to  live."* — 
Exod.  xxii.  1 8. 

*  See  further  on  for  comments  on  this  severe  enactment,  so 
much  abused  in  early  American  history. 


222  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

"Ye  shall  not  .  .  .  use  enchantments,  nor  prac- 
tise augury." — Lev.  xix.  26. 

"Turn  ye  not  unto  them  that  have  familiar  spirits, 
nor  unto    the  wizards:  seek    them  not  out,   to  be 
defiled   by   them:    I    am   the   Lord   your    God."- 
Lev.  xix.  31. 

"And  the  soul  that  turneth  unto  them  that  have 
familiar  spirits,  and  unto  the  wizards,  to  go  a 
whoring  after  them,  I  will  even  set  my  face  against 
that  soul,  and  will  cut  him  off  from  among  his 
people." — Lev.  xx.  6. 

No  Mediums  Allowed 

"A  man  also  or  a  woman  that  hath  a  familiar 
spirit,  or  that  is  a  wizard,  shall  surely  be  put  to 
death:  they  shall  stone  them  with  stones*;  their 
blood  shall  be  upon  them." — Lev.  xx.  27. 

"There  shall  not  be  found  with  thee  any  one  that 
maketh  his  son  or  his  daughter  to  pass  through  the 
fire,  one  that  useth  divination,  one  that  practise th 
augury;  or  an  enchanter,  or  a  sorcerer,  or  a  charmer, 
or  a  consulter  with  a  familiar  spirit,  or  a  wizard, 
or  a  necromancer.  For  whosoever  doeth  these 
things  is  an  abomination  unto  the  Lord." — 
Deut.  xviii.  10-12. 

"For  these  nations,  which  thou  shalt  possess, 
hearken  unto  them  that  practise  augury,  and  unto 
•diviners;  but  as  for  thee,  the  Lord  thy  God  hath  not 
suffered  thee  so  to  do." — Deut.  xviii.  14. 

"And  they  caused  their  sons  and  their  daughters 

*  This  was  not  generally,  as  supposed,  a  cruel,  lingering  death. 
The  "first  stone"  (St.  John  viii.)  was  a  piece  of  rock  that  was 
thrown  to  kill  or  stun  the  victim  at  once. 


SPIRITISM  AND  CHRISTIANITY        223 

to  pass  through  the  fire,  and  used  divinations  and 
enchantments." — 2  Kings  xvii.  17. 

"And  he  made  his  son  to  pass  through  the  fire, 
and  practised  augury,  and  used  enchantments,  and 
dealt  with  them  that  had  familiar  spirits,  and  with 
wizards;  he  (Manasseh)  wrought  much  evil  in  the 
sight  of  the  Lord,  to  provoke  Him  to  anger. "- 
2  Kings  xxi.  6. 

"  Moreover,  them  that  had  familiar  spirits,  and  the 
wizards,  and  the  teraphim  (household  gods),  and 
the  idols,  and  all  the  abominations  that  were  spied 
in  the  land  of  Judah  and  in  Jerusalem,  did  Josiah 
put  away." — 2  Kings  xxiii.  24. 

"And  I  will  cut  off  witchcrafts  out  of  thine  hand; 
and  thou  shalt  have  no  more  soothsayers." — Micah 
v.  12. 

"And  I  will  come  near  to  you  in  judgment;  and  I 
will  be  a  swift  witness  against  the  sorcerers." — Mai. 
iii.  5. 

"A  certain  maid  having  a  spirit  of  divination  met 
us  (Paul  and  Silas  and  probably  Timothy  (Acts 
xyi-  3)))  which  brought  her  masters  much  gain  by 
soothsaying.  The  same  following  after  Paul  and 
us  cried  out,  saying,  'These  men  are  servants  of  the 
Most  High  God,  which  proclaim  unto  you  the  way 
of  salvation."  And  this .  she  did  for  many  days. 
But  Paul,  being  sore  troubled,  turned,  and  said  to 
the  spirit,  'I  charge  thee  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ 
to  come  out  of  her.'  And  it  came  out  that  very 
hour." — Acts  xxii.  16.  This  wonderful  drama  de- 
mands a  moment's  pause  to  seek  to  understand  its 
marvels.  Let  us  try  and  picture  the  scene  together, 
and  we  shall  be  most  richly  rewarded. 


224  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

The  Drama  at  Philippi 

Look  at  the  setting  of  the  story.  This  was  the 
first  entry  of  Christianity  into  Europe,  the  most 
momentous  event  in  its-  history! 

Who  could  discern  the  mighty  importance  of  the 
landing  of  these  three  obscure  travellers?  Only 
two — God  and  the  Prince  of  Darkness!  Mere  men 
were  busy  with  weightier  affairs — the  gossip  of  the 
court  at  Rome,  the  rising  influence  of  Greece,  and  the 
like;  and  yet-  through  the  power  of  the  message 
of  these  three  men  both  Empires  were  soon  to  fall 
beneath  the  sway  of  the  crucified  Nazarene.  Paul 
and  Silas  (with  Timothy)  did  not  seek  out  the  chief 
men  of  the  place  to  make  the  importance  of  their 
advent  becomingly  known;  but  guided  by  the  Holy 
Spirit  went  down  to  the  riverside,  the  place  of  prayer, 
where  a  stranger,  a  seller  of  the  world-famed  Tyrian 
purple,  whose  name  (Lydia),  enshrined  in  the  divine 
amber  of  the  Bible,  is  immortalised,  became  the 
first  convert  to  the  faith  (now  threatened  by  Spirit- 
ism) in  Europe. 

The  Prince  of  Darkness 

The  Prince  of  Darkness  was  an  unseen  witness 
of  the  whole  occurrence,  and  his  plans  were  soon 
made.  Probably  the  very  next  day,  on  their  way  to 
the  river,  his  emissary,  suitably  disguised  as  an 
"angel  of  light,"  or  at  any  rate  as  a  "minister  of 
righteousness,"  met  them,  and  gave  the  apostle 
a  most  hearty  and  unexpected  welcome.  She  evi- 
dently knew  all  about  their  arrival  and  their  gospel, 
and  the  part  in  the  drama  she  had  to  play.  This 
ancient  Spiritism  was,  at  any  rate,  far  too  wise  to 


SPIRITISM  AND  CHRISTIANITY         225 

seek  to  discredit  the  Christian  gospel,  after  the  fashion 
of  the  modern  variety. 

On  the  contrary,  she  lauded  it  to  the  skies  for  • 
days,  declaring  it  to  be  (as  it  was)  "the  way  of  sal- 
vation," and  thus  posed  as  another  and  a  greater 
"Lydia" — the  true  and  the  false  were  side  by  side.* 
And  yet  the  apostle  was  not  taken  in!  (for  the 
spiritual  man  "discerneth  all  things"  (i  Cor.  ii.  15)  ). 

How  different  in  these  times!  Why  nowadays, 
if  the  name  of  God  is  but  so  much  as  heard  at  a  seance, 
we  feel  it  is  all  right;  while  if  one  of  the  "soothsayers" 
got  up  and  lauded  the  central  tenets  of  the  Chris- 
tian faith  after  the  fashion  of  this  maid,  London 
would  ring  with  the  news  the  next  day,  as  proof  posi- 
tive of  the  godliness  of  Modern  Spiritism !  It  is  writ- 
ten that  the  apostle  was  "sore  troubled,"  and  no 
wonder,  with  this  perplexing  masterpiece  of  the 
enemy,  masquerading  before  him  and  undeniably 
preaching  day  after  day  the  truth  of  God! 

Paul  Discerns  the  Snare 

But  "in  vain  is  the  net  spread  in  the  sight  of  any 
bird,"  and  St.  Paul,  instructed  by  the  Holy  Spirit 
and  "discerning  all  things,"  like  his  Master  before 
him  (Mark  i.  25,  34),  refused  praise  from  the  unclean 
source;  recognising  in  a  moment  the  double  per- 
sonality and  the  case  of  "possession"  before  him. 
He  saw  clearly  the  devil  that  "possessed"  this  pseudo- 
evangelist,  and  said  to  it,  "I  charge  thee  in  the  name 
of  Jesus  Christ  to  come  out  of  her." 

He  never  addressed  one  word  to  the  poor  victim 
at  all,  but  spoke  to  the  real  power  within  her.  Are 

*  It  will  be  noted  that  her  name,  however,  is  not  immortalised. 


226  MODERN  SMRITISM 

not  these  things  written  for  our  instruction?  And 
is  there  one  single  soul  who  reads  these  lines  so  blind 
as  not  to  see  the  parallel,  or  so  deaf  as  not  to  hear 
the  warning  ? 

The  resultt,  of  course,  was  many  stripes  and  the 
prison  at  Philippi;  not  forgetting  the  loosing  of  all 
the  prisoners'  chains,  and  the  conversion  of  the 
jailer,  and  all  his  house,  the  first  European  men  who 
were  converted  to  the  new  faith. 

To  continue  our  list.  "But  for.  .  .sorcerers.  .  . 
their  part  shall  be  in  the  lake  that  burneth  with 
fire  and  brimstone,  which  is  the  second  death." — 
Rev.  xxi.  8. 

"Without  are  dogs,  and  sorcerers."- — Rev.  xxii.  15. 

The  Witch  of  Endor 

The  episode  of  the  witch  of  Endor  must  also  be 
considered.  It  is  recorded  in  i  Sam.  xxviii.  that 
Samuel  had  been  dead  five  years. 

The  witch  of  Endor  in  a  cave  on  the  north  side  of 
Little  Hermon,  in  the  great  plain  of  Esdraelon,  was 
what  would  now  be  called  a  medium  accustomed 
to  necromancy,  a  practice  not  only  forbidden  by 
God,  but  also  by  Saul  himself;*  so  that  this  woman 
was  more  or  less  in  hiding. 

Saul  came  and  asked  for  the  materialisation  of 
Samuel.  At  first  the  form  was  only  seen  by  the 
medium;  but  when  the  great  mantle  it  wore  was 
described  to  Saul,  he  knew  at  once  who  it  was,  be- 
cause he  had  seized  this  very  robe  years  before  and 
torn  it  on  that  memorable  day,  when  Samuel  de- 

*  And  Saul  had  put  away  those  that  had  familiar  spirits,  and 
the  wizards,  out  of  the  land." — I  Sam.  xxviii.  3. 


SPIRITISM  AND  CHRISTIANITY       227 

clared  that  in  like  manner  God  would  tear  away 
the  Kingdom  from  Saul,  a  terrible  prophecy  that 
was  being  then  fulfilled  at  that  very  moment.  Samuel 
alludes  to  the  circumstance  (a  proof  of  his  identity; 
for  the  episode  was  possibly  only  known  to  the  two) : 
"the  Lord  hath  rent  the  kingdom  out  of  thine  hand 
.  .  .this  day."  He  proceeds  in  the  awful  words, 
"to-morrow  shalt  thou  and  thy  sons  be  with  me" 
(i.e.,  in  Sheol,  the  place  of  the  dead). 

Saul  is  "sore  afraid,"  not  on  account  of  the  ap- 
pearance of  Samuel,  but  because  of  his  words. 

False  Predictions 

Nothing  can  more  clearly  show  what  Modern 
Spiritism  really  is  than  a  careful  comparison  of  the 
recorded  utterances  of  the  Fedas,  Moonstones,  Red 
feathers,  etc.,  with  the  wonderful  words  of  Samuel 
(verses  16-19).  The  contrast  between  the  drivel  of 
the  one  and  the  awful  majesty  of  the  other  is  most 
impressive.  It  is  true  that  on  occasions  Spiritists 
have  tried  solemnly  to  predict  earthquakes  and  other 
things — but  these  predictions  have  proved  their 
lying  source  by  their  falsity. 

Mr.  Stead  himself  embarked  upon  his  last  fatal 
voyage  with  a  light  heart,  for  he  could  not  be  drowned, 
the  spirits  having  revealed  to  him  that  his  death 
would  be  from  some  runaway  horse  in  the  streets  of 
a  large  city!  This  he  told  to  me. 

The  Dead  Have  Spoken 

That  the  dead  have  been  raised  on  exceptional 
occasions,  and  for  definite  Divine  purposes,  may  not 
be  denied.  We  have  the  cases  of  Moses  and  Elias  on 


228  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

the  Mount  of  Transfiguration.  We  have  those  who 
after  the  resurrection  of  Christ  (the  first-fruits)  rose 
and  appeared  in  the  streets  of  Jerusalem;  we  have 
the  man  who  rose  when  the  body  of  the  mighty 
prophet  Elisha  touched  his  form;  we  have  beyond 
all  the  calling  from  the  dead  of  Jairus'  daughter,  of 
the  young  man  at  Nain,  and  of  Lazarus,  by  the 
almighty  power  of  God.  Will  any  one  name  these  in 
the  same  breath  with  the  "Katie  Kings,"  the  aged 
aunts,  and  the  absolute  frauds  of  the  modern 
stance  ?  * 

I  cannot  for  one  moment  say  that  in  the  providence 
of  God,  when  in  those  days  His  voice  spoke  through 
His  prophets  in  a  very  special  way,  that  on  this 
solemn  and  unique  occasion  Samuel  did  not  appear 
by  the  power  and  at  the  command  of  God.  But  it 
is  perfectly  clear  that  the  woman  did  not  expect 
him;  nor  was  it  by  any  power  of  hers  that  he  came, 
for  she  herself  was  full  of  terror  and  surprise,  and 
cried  out  with  fear,  while  Saul  was  not  in  the  least 
disturbed  by  his  appearing. 

Antichrist 

'  The  last  case  I  will  refer  to  is  that  of  the  "Anti- 
christ," whose  predicted  lying  wonders  so  closely 
resemble  many  in  modern  Spiritism  that  he  appears 
to  me  a  sort  of  master-medium.  It  is  said  of  him, 
"He  doeth  great  signs,  that  he  should  even  make 
fire  come  down  out  of  heaven  upon  the  earth  in  the 
sight  of  men.  And  he  deceiveth  them  that  dwell  on 

*  It  is  not  true,  as  Spiritists  say,  that  Samuel's  is  the  only 
voice  from  the  dead  recorded  in  Scripture ;  we  are  not  only  told 
that  Moses  and  Elias  talked  on  the  Holy  Mount  with  Christ, 
but  that  they  spoke  of  His  coming  decease  at  Jerusalem. 


SPIRITISM  AND  CHRISTIANITY       229 

the  earth  by  reason  of  the  signs ....  And  it  was 
given  unto  him  to  give  breath  to  it,  even  the  image 
of  the  beast;  that  even  the  image  of  the  beast 
should  speak"  (Rev.  xiii.  13-15).  It  must  not  be 
forgotten  that  these  are  "lying"  wonders,  in  other 
words  "fraud,"  which  I  fear  is  almost  a  "hall- 
mark" of  so  many  modern  marvels. 

The  quiet  study  of  all  these  Scriptures  gives  us, 
in  modern  parlance,  somewhat  "furiously  to  think." 

The  Monstrous  Union 

Respecting  the  sentences  of  death  on  the  Canaan- 
itish  wizards,  all  given  when  Israel  was  about  to 
encounter  these  in  the  Promised  Land,  and  practically 
only  in  connection  with  Palestine,  it  is  quite  possible 
that  the  esoteric  reason  may  be  similar  to  that  which 
elsewhere  ordered  the  extermination  of  the  Canaan- 
ites,  and  long  before,  for  what  I  believe  were 
similar  reasons,  that  of  the  entire  Adamic  race 
except  eight  souls.  In  a  book  like  this,  on  another 
subject,  I  can  only  allude  to  the  great  mystery  of 
the  union  of  the  denizens  of  the  other  world  with 
the  "daughters  of  men,"  which  apparently  not  only 
occasioned  the  Noachian  deluge,  but  the  extermina- 
tion of  the  Canaanites,  for  the  disaster  was  not 
confined  to  the  days  of  Noah.*  The  results  of  the 
unnatural  marriages  were  giants  f  of  superhuman 
powers;  and  thus  the  corruption  of  the  whole  of 

*  The  Nephilim  (giants)  were  the  result  of  the  horrible  union, 
and  also,  on  a  later  occasion,  in  Canaan:  "There  we  saw 
the  Nephilim,  the  sons  of  Anak"  (Numb.  xiii.  33),  for  Genesis 
vi.  tells  us  "the  Nephilim  were  in  those  days,  and  also  after  those 
days." 

f  The  demigods  of  Greek  mythology  were  evidently  distorted 
reminiscences  of  this  terrible  time. 


23o  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

humanity  was  imminent.  The  terrible  nature  of  the 
danger  may  be  measured  by  the  steps  taken  to 
stop  it,  and  the  reality  of  it  will  be  realised  by  reading 
the  well-known  "Giant  Cities  of  Bashan,"  by 
Porter,  a  sober  record  of  unheard-of  marvels,  which 
at  once  silences  all  scoffers  and  sceptics.  That 
under  these  special  circumstances  no  communica- 
tions with  the  unseen  world  should  be  allowed 
was  absolutely  essential  to  the  preservation  of  the 
human  race,  which  was  probably  only  saved  by  an 
action  which  has  been  loudly  condemned  by  ignorant 
humanitarians  and  arm-chair  critics. 

Sons  of  Anak 

Degenerate  survivors  of  the  great  disaster,  however, 
may  exist  even  to  this  day.  Those  who  know  Pales- 
tine are  aware  that  some  of  the  fellaheen  are  the 
original  Canaanites  of  the  days  of  Joshua;  and  in  the 
Lebanon  Hospital  for  Mental  Diseases,  near  Beyrout, 
to  me  the  most  wonderful  Christian  work  -in  the 
Near  East  (and  the  only  one  carried  on  by  England 
throughout  the  Great  War),  I  have  seen  one  of  the 
"sons  bf  Anak"  with  the  twenty-four  fingers  and 
toes,  and  giant  stature,  that  still  distinguishes  the 
once  hybrid  race;  at  any  rate,  in  the  belief  of  the 
people. 

Of  course,  in  modern  times,  this  special  reason  for 
condemning  necromancy  no  longer  exists,  though  the 
danger  of  tampering  with  the  secrets  of  the  other 
world  is  still  a  great  reality  and  furnishes  another 
reason  of  nearly  equal  weight.  The  tone  of  the  New 
Testament,  probably  from  the  above  facts,  is 
different  with  regard  to  mediums.  It  is  rather  the 


SPIRITISM  AND  CHRISTIANITY        231 

conflict  between  what  is  evil  and  Satanic  and  that 
which  is  truly  good  and  Divine.  The  conflict  is  seen 
to  perfection  in  the  scene  at  Philippi,  and  the 
spiritual  man,  with  the  Word  of  God  in  his  hand,  is 
said  to  be  able  to  discern  between  the  two — the 
psychic  and  the  "pneumatic."  This  book  is, 
indeed,  a  small  endeavour  to  do  the  same,  for 
the  author  regards  the  psychic  side,  at  any  rate,  of 
Modern  Spiritism  as  essentially  evil  in  its  origin  and 
tendencies,  and  Christianity  or  true  Spiritualism, 
as  of  God,  and  tending  only  to  the  good  of 
humanity. 

Wisdom  of  Jewish  Prophets 

Sir  Wm.  Barrett,  referring  to  our  subject,  says, 
most  aptly,  "The  ground  of  the  Jewish  prophets 
was  most  wise;  but  in  the  New  Testament  the 
warnings  are  somewhat  different:  'Try  the  spirits,' 
not  turn  a  deaf  ear.  The  spirits  seem  mainly  psychic ; 
that  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  is  truly  spiritual,  and 
modern  spiritism  is  mainly  psychic,  true  spiritualism 
is  really  spiritual.  Every  thoughtful  and  reverent 
mind  must  admit  the  peril  to -faith  in  a  risen  Lord; 
and  there  is  a  destined  warning  against  making  a 
religion  of  spiritism."* 

"To  study  psychical  phenomena,"  he  continues, 
"as  a  branch  of  science  is  another  matter." 

Communication  with  the  spirit-world  may  be  with 
good  or  bad  spirits.  Christianity  fosters  all  com- 
munication with  the  supreme  good — the  Holy 
Spirit  of  God.  The  evil  are  what  are  specially  for- 
bidden— "Beware  of  seducing  spirits." 

*  "On  the  Threshold  of  the  Unseen,"  p.  34. 


232  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

Of  course,  the  very  forbidding  of  necromancy 
shows  it  existed;  but  does  not  prove  it  was  suc- 
cessful. 

The  ancient  practice  was  essentially  devilish,  and, 
as  we  have  seen,  to  be  repressed  at  all  costs.  Not 
for  nothing  has  the  Christian  Church  throughout  her 
history  forbidden  the  practice  of  necromancy.  Will 
any  apologist  deny  it  has  a  most  unpleasant  and 
deterring  record  ? 

Borrowed  Plumes 

Spiritism  speaks  deceptively  at  times  in  language 
borrowed  from  Christianity:  "The  grand  figure  of  the 
Crucifixion  will  endure  throughout  the  ages,"  but  it 
proceeds,  "The  true  atonement  is  the  ennobling  of 
the  nature,  the  pacifying  of  the  spirit,  the  making 
at  one  the  human  and  Divine."  The  new  religion  will 
have  but  one  confession,  "Love  and  faith,  and 
Our  Father  which  art  in  Heaven."  It  is  evident  that 
Modern  Spiritism  and  the  true  Spiritualism  of 
Christianity  have  little  in  common. 

Neither  the  atonement  nor  the  resurrection  are 
accepted  by  Spiritism.  That  Christ  is  now  alive 
in  the  other  world  with  myriads  of  the  living  host 
of  Heaven,  as  well  as  with  the  spirits  of  the  dead,  is 
absolutely  unknown  to  it. 

Sir  Oliver  Lodge  beautifully  says  in  "Raymond," 
"Christ's  advent  is  the  glory,  his  reception  the  shame 
of  the  human  race,"  but  he  does  not  point  out  that 
that  shame  has  been  turned  by  God  into  glory  on 
the  Cross,  and  into  the  redemption  of  the  world; 
for  salvation  is  to  be  found  in  the  Cross,  not  in  the 
cradle,  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  The  language  and 


SPIRITISM  AND  CHRISTIANITY       233 

practice  of  Spiritism  is,  indeed,  at  the  opposite  pole 
to  Christianity. 

Not  that  it  always  so  represents  itself.  It  is  rather, 
it  says  at  times,  an  effort  to  change  Christianity, 
to  save  it  from  perishing;  and  unfortunately  it 
appeals  to  ignorant  masses,  already  alienated  from 
it,  not  by  their  reason  or  as  the  result  of  examination, 
but  from  apathy  and  indifference. 

The  Child  of  Theosophy 

It  was  when  faith  thus  declined  that  the  whole 
problem  of  the  future  life  became  insoluble,  and  was 
left  to  the  necromancers  of  Modern  Spiritism. 

It  is  to  contend  against  this  state  of  things  this 
book  has  been  written.  It  is,  indeed,  time  that  some 
attempt  should  be  made  to  put  this  new  religion  in 
its  true  light ;  and  that  it  should  be  revealed  as  a  child 
of  Theosophy  and  not  of  Christianity. 

It  is  possible  Theosophists  may  repudiate  their 
offspring;  but  none  can  read  "Raymond"  and 
other  books  without  coming  to  the  same  conclusion. 

To  compare  small  things  with  great,  we  may 
therefore  venture  to  think  that  even  this  puny 
effort  may  be  a  faint  reflection  of  the  great  conflict 
of  the  powers  of  darkness  and  light.  "For  our 
wrestling  is  not  against  flesh  and  blood,  but  against 
the  principalities,  against  the  powers,  against  the 
world-rulers  of  this  darkness,  against  the  spiritual 
tests  of  wickedness." — Eph.  vi.  12. 

The  "Nineteenth  Century" 

I  will  close  with  a  few  words  from  an  abler  pen 
than  mine — Mr.  C.  E.  Hudson,  in  the  Nineteenth 
Century  (May,  1919). 


234  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

"What  are  the  futile  and  valueless  vapourings  of 
F.  W.  H.  Myers  or  "Raymond"  (Sir  Oliver  Lodge), 
when  weighed  in  the  balance  against  that  fellowship 
of  universal  prayer  which  the  Christian  knows  him- 
self to  share  with  the  whole  company  of  the  Church  in 
Paradise  in  Heaven;  that  fellowship  made  effectual 
not  through  "Feda"  or  "Moonstone,"  or  "Dr. 
Phinuit"  (to  name  most  celebrated  "controls"), 
but  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord  ? 

"Spiritism  has  no  message  for  the  sinner;  the  one 
bowed  down  in  the  consciousness  of  his  own  weak- 
ness and  shame.  It  provides  no  answer  to  the 
eternal  queries  of  the  human  soul — 'Who  will 
deliver  me  from  this  body  of  death  ?'  'What  shall  I 
do  to  be  saved?' 

"Where  in  Spiritism  is  there  any  reference  to  the 
fundamental  Christian  doctrine  of  the  reconciliation 
of  man  to  God  by  Jesus  Christ  ?  Where  any  recog- 
nition of  man's  need  of  redemption?  Where  any 
admission  of  the  Divinity  of  Christ?  It  is  note- 
worthy Spiritism  invariably  speaks  of  Him  as  Jesus 
or  Christ,  never  as  'our  Lord.' 

"Christianity  and  Spiritism  are,  indeed,  rival 
claimants  to  our  allegiance,  and  there  can  surely 
be  no  doubt  as  to  which  of  the  two  has  the  better 
right  to'  it. 

"After  all,  what  is  there  in  Spiritism  which  is  not 
already  familiar  knowledge  to  the  most  insignificant 
disciple  of  Jesus  Christ?" 


CHAPTER  XIII 
TRUE  SPIRITUALISM 

A  Nasty  Sound 

I  GRANT  that,  as  applied  to  Christianity,  "Spiri- 
tualism" has  a  nasty  sound,  but  I  venture  to  say 
that  it  is  truly  descriptive  of  it.  Christianity  is  an 
essentially  spiritual  religion.  Its  Head  is  now  in  the 
spirit  world;  its  God  is  a  Spirit;  the  Holy  Spirit  is 
the  Comforter,  the  Inspirer,  the  Guide  of  every 
Christian,  and  the  power  of  his  new  life.  It  is, 
therefore,  a  great  pity  that  the  lovely  word  "Spiri- 
tualism" has  been  so  degraded;  but  now  that 
"Spiritism"  has  been  invented  to  describe  the 
Modern  Cult,  is  it  too  late  to  restore  the  other  word 
to  its  true  meaning,  and  to  use  it  in  its  Christian 
connection?  I  hope  not. 

Anyhow,  whether  it  be  called  "True  Spiritualism1' 
or  "True  Christianity,"  I  shall  endeavour  in  this  last 
chapter,  which  is  really  rather  in  the  nature  of  an 
appendix,  to  present  what  I  fear  is  but  little  known 
to-day,  the  true  spiritual  aspect  of  the  Faith.. 

The  Spiritual  Man 

The  first  thing  to  notice  is,  that  although  the 
"spiritual  body,"  which  Sir  A.  Conan  Doyle  believes 
clothes  the  departed  at  death,  is  not  put  on  until  the 
resurrection  morning,  the  Christian  is  a  "spiritual 


236  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

man"  now.  To  contrast  good  with  evil,  one  may 
draw  a  striking  parallel,  which  will  not  be  mis- 
understood, with  "possession."  This  word  describes 
a  man  full  of  an  evil  spirit,  "possessed"  by  it  at  the 
time,  with  the  fearful  results  I  have  witnessed. 
Now  the  "spiritual  man"  is  "full  of  the  Holy 
Ghost";  in  other  words,  "possessed"  by  the 
Spirit  of  all  good,  with  the  blessed  results  that 
follow  such  a  sacred  "indwelling." 

Let  my  reader  grasp  the  fact  of  the  existence  both 
of  the  world  of  evil  spirits,  so  carefully  described  in 
Eph.  vi.  12,  and  of  the  Holy  Spirit  as  dwelling  in  a 
man  (Rom.  viii.  9). 

The  "spiritual  man,"  so  indwelt,  becomes  a  man 
of  power;  according  to  i  Cor.  ii.:  "He  that  is 
'spiritual'  judges  (or  discerns)  all  things;  and  he 
himself  is  judged  (discerned)  of  no  man." 

Discerns  All  Things 

The  wonderful  sight  of  this  power  in  actual 
operation  demonstrates  the  practical  power,  wisdom, 
and  sound  judgment  that  such  a  condition  alone 
confers,  and  is  well  shown  in  the  wonderful  drama 
at  Philippi  recorded  in  Chapter  XII. 

Would  that  such  dramas  were  more  common 
now! 

It  would  obviously  be  too  grotesque  to  describe 
Spiritism  as  a  rival  to  Christianity,  were  it  not  for 
the  rarity  of  truly  "spiritual  men"  to-day! 

It  is  as  such  that  humanity  becomes  truly  noble, 
as  the  spiritual  man  "discerns  all  things."  It  is 
only  the  great  who,  by  this  power,  have  any  concept 
how  small  they  really  are. 


TRUE  SPIRITUALISM  237 

True  Perspective 

It  is  a  great  thing  when  dealing,  as  we  are,  with 
God  and  man,  the  Infinite  and  the  finite,  to  be  able 
as  it  were  to  get  outside  of  our  personality  and 
consider  it  abstractedly.  "What  is  man,  that 
Thou  art  mindful  of  him?"  He  lives  in  time  and 
space,  and  only  in  the  smallest  fraction  of  either. 
One  may  express  it  thus.  If  time  be  as  a  year,  he 
knows  less  than  one  single  hour,  as  shown  in  his  per- 
ception of  vibrations;  if  space  .be  as  a  thousand 
miles,  he  knows  less  than  an  inch,  as  shown  in 
his  being  shut  up  in  one  small  planet  of  the  universe. 
His  limitations  are  everywhere,  and  the  smell  of 
the  red  earth  of  the  garden  where  Adam  was  first 
placed,  but  to  which  his  spirit  never  belonged,  still 
clings  to  him,  and  proves  the  lowly  origin  of  his 
loftiest  aspirations. 

None  of  these  things  are  seen  or  realised  in  their 
true  light  until  his  personality  (in  the  new  birth) 
becomes  so  pervaded  by  the  eternal  Spirit,  through 
the  power  of  the  crucified  Redeemer,  that  he  then 
dwells  in  eternity.  It  is  thus  that  he  gets,  for  the 
first  time,  the  true  perspective  of  life. 

To  the  time-dweller,  tout  lasse,  tout  casse,  tout 
passe.  Modern  Spiritism  will  soon  have  had  its  day, 
break  up,  and  cease  to  be  "modern";  for  the  world 
itself  grows  old.  Only  that  which  is  not  "of  the 
world,"  but  of  God,  ages  not:  and  Christianity  is  as 
new  and  fresh  to-day  as  when  its  millenniums  first 
began.  * 

*  This  is  most  strikingly  evident  to-day  in  Asia,  Africa,  and 
any  islands  of  the  sea. 


238  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

Apotheosis  of  Man 

What  an  apotheosis  of  man  is  here.  No  Spiritism, 
no  Modernism,  no  Science  (Christian  or  otherwise)  has 
ever  pictured,  or  has  ever  conceived^  the  glorious 
destiny  reserved  for  him  in  the  counsels  of  God. 
Purblind  bats,  as  we  are,  to  turn  our  backs  on  the 
grace  of  a  God  who  "will  have  all  men  to  be  saved, 
and  come  to  a  knowledge  of  the  truth,"  that  He  may 
raise  them,  even  now,  up  to  Heaven;  and  there,  in 
spirit,  in  eternity  with  Christ,  survey  the  incredible 
destiny  of  man,  who  is  destined  to  display  throughout 
eternity  to  the  created  universe  the  wisdom  and  the 
love  of  the  Divine  (Eph.  ii.  6,  and  iii.  10,  18,  19). 
"For  eye  hath  not  seen,  ear  hath  not  heard,  neither 
hath  it  entered  into  the  heart  of  man  to  conceive,  the 
things  which  God  hath  prepared  for  them  that  love 
Him;  but  God  hath  revealed  them  unto  us  by  His 
Spirit"  (i  Cor.  ii.  9). 

Man's  Pitiful  Pride 

Talk  of  super-men,  of  the  dreary  outlook  of 
"Raymond's"  other  world,  of  the  seven  spheres  of 
Theosophy,  of  the  dreams  of  visionaries!  Their 
concepts,  one  and  all,  are  necessarily  bounded 
by  the  capacity  of  the  minds  that  conceived 
them. 

It  is  thus  that  man,  rejecting  in  his  pitiful  pride  the 
doctrine  of  the  Fall,  which  somewhat  lowers  him  in 
his  own  eyes,  turns  his  back  with  cold  indifference 
on  God's  Divine  love  that  would  not  spare  His  Son, 
that  men  might  be  for  ever  rescued  from  "sin  and 


TRUE  SPIRITUALISM  239 

all  its  woe,"  and  enjoy  through  His  grace  the  dazzling 
future  He  has  offered  to  mankind.  * 

What  is  the  use  even  of  seeing  the  futility  of 
Spiritism,  and  of  being  delivered  from  its  toils,  if  we 
still  are  so  blind  and  deaf  to  our  own  interests  as 
not  to  believe  the  word  of  Christ  Jesus?  Once  we 
enroll  ourselves  under  the  banner  of  the  Cross  we 
find  ourselves  rich  "beyond  all  the  dreams  of 
avarice,"  and  the  much-dreaded  darkness  of  the 
future  is  replaced  by  the  radiance  of  an  eternity  of 
joy  If 

Christianity  Always  First 

Let  a  man  sit  down  and  count  the  cost  of  rejecting 
Christianity,  supposing  it  for  a  moment  to  be  (as 
it  is)  a  true  belief,  and  he  will  be  appalled  at  his 
folly.  Let  a  man  even  take  everything  for  the 
moment  as  equally  true — Christianity,  Theosophy, 
Christian  Science,  Modernism,  and  Spiritism,  listen 
to  all  they  respectively  offer  to  man,  and  make  his 
choice — Christianity  will  then  be  necessarily  first, 
all  the  time.  And  when  he  inquires  for  the  respective 
guarantees  behind  Christianity,  Theosophy,  Christian 
Science,  Modernism,  and  Spiritism,  for  the  fulfilment 
of  their  promises,  he  will  find  that  the  only  one  that 
can  produce,  even  a  professed  Divine  assurance  of 
their  fulfilment,  is  the  Christian  faith. 

And   lastly,   if    he  asks  for  the  evidence  of  the 

*  We  can  effect  no  surprise  that  the  apostle  should  exclaim : 
"  How  shall  we  escape  if  we  neglect  so  great  salvation?" 

f  For  years,  during  its  construction,  the  Simplon  Tunnel  was 
but  a  gloomy  cavern;  it  is  now  the  entrance  to  the  sunshine  and 
glories  of  Italy.  It  is  in  like  manner  the  resurrection  of  Christ 
has  transformed  death  from  being  the  gloomy  end  of  all  our 
hopes  into  the  portal  of  Divine  sunshine  and  endless  bliss ! 


2^0  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

truth  of  Christianity,  Theosophy,  Christian  Science, 
Modernism,  and  Spiritism,  in  the  history  of  their  con- 
verts, he  will  find  that  the  only  faith  that  has,  as  yet, 
any  history  at  all  demonstrates  in  the  lives  of  its 
followers,  the  world  over,  its  Divine  power. 

Transforming  Power 

The  darker  the  setting,  the  more  wonderful  the 
transformation;  for  there  is  not  one  dark  spot  on 
this  earth,  the  world  over,  which  the  word  of  God 
and  the  faith  of  Christ  have  entered,  that  has  not 
had  its  darkness  changed  into  light. 

Let  Theosophy,  Christian  Science,  Modernism, 
and  Spiritism  go  forth  and  try,  the  power  of  their 
cults  to  transform  the  lives  of  savages  and  pagans. 
Spiritism,  with  which  alone  we  are  here  immediately 
concerned,  is  at  home  already  in  these  dark  places 
and  needs  no  introduction.  Its  power  for  trans- 
formation, however,  is  still  to  seek.  But  this  is  not 
all,  for  the  half  has  not  yet  been  told.  I  can  assure 
my  dubious  reader  that  it  is  not  true,  as  he  has  no 
doubt  been  assured  more  than  once,  that  Chris- 
tianity is  really  ' '  a  scheme  for  making  him  miserable 
now,  that  he  may  be  happy  hereafter."  It  is  hap- 
piness here  and  now  that  it  offers. 

Now  all  of  us,  Jews,  Turks  and  infidels,  atheists, 
believers,  unbelievers,  and  ordinary  people,  are  after 
the  same  thing  throughout  life — happiness;  the  point 
is — Who  gets  it  ? 

Pursuit  of  Happiness 

The  richest  and  wisest  man  on  earth  once  started 
on  this  quest,  and  spared  nothing  in  order  to  succeed. 


TRUE  SPIRITUALISM  241 

His  record  is  in  Eccles.  ii.,  and  his  name  is  Solomon, 
and  his  conclusion  is  that  all  he  got  was  only  vanity 
and  vexation  of  spirit. 

One  would  think  that,  when  he  failed,  it  would  be 
difficult  for  "a  mere  man"  to  succeed. 

The  fact  is  the  world  is  on  a  vain  pursuit,  deluded 
by  a  false  proverb,  "A  bird  in  the  hand  is  worth 
two  in  the  bush."  This  is  a  colossal  lie,  and  belief  in 
it  is  even  now  leading  mankind  to  destruction.  Let 
anyone  catch  a  nightingale  or  even  a  thrush,  and 
try  if  the  proverb  be  true.  He  will  soon  be  a  sadder 
but  a  wiser  man,  for  he  will  discover  a  great  truth. 
Only  "in  the  bush"  does  the  bird  sing,  which  is  all 
its  value;  once  in  the  hand,  the  song  is  gone.  It  is 
true  he  can  eat  the  bird,  but  will  any  one  tell  me 
that  a  roasted  nightingale  is  worth  two  living  ones 
"in  a  bush"?  The  rubbish  of  the  saying  is  laid 
bare,  and  yet  it  is  this  delusion  that  leads  men 
astray. 

The  Prodigal  Son 

Take  the  story  of  the  prodigal  son  as  an  illustration 
of  the  drama  of  mankind.  The  prodigal,  doubtless, 
being  properly  instructed  in  error,  had  always  under- 
stood that  ' '  a  bird  in  the  hand  was  worth  two  in  the 
bush";  and  hearing  the  syren  songs  in  the  "bush" 
of  the  "far  country"  (it's  always  a  long  journey), 
he  sets  out  to  prove  the  truth  of  his  lying  proverb. 
He  is  soon  disillusioned,  and  discovers,  as  do  all 
men,  sooner  or  later,  that  happiness  consists  in  the 
pursuit,  not  in  the  attainment  of  the  object.  Once 
possessed,  the  song  that  lured  us  on  is  silent,  and 
happiness  is  yet  to  seek.  Such,  indeed,  is  the  match- 

M.S.  l6 


242  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

less  moral  of  the  "Blue  Bird"* — that  true  drama  of 
life. 

Happiness  Above  the  Sun 

Men  are  everywhere  striving  after  a  happiness 
they  never  get,  because  of  one  futile  mistake.  They 
are  seeking  it  "beneath  the  sun,"  whereas  the  wisest 
man  assures  them  "all  is  vanity  and  vexation  of 
spirit"  there!  Why  not,  then,  seek  happiness  above 
the  sun? 

Man  is  comparatively  happy  so  long  as  he  hasn't 
got  his  happiness,  and  it  is  still  singing  its  deceptive 
songs  in  his  ears,  because  he  believes  he  is  going  to 
get  it. 

It  is  when  he  does  get  it  that  he  really  becomes 
truly  wretched.  What  a  strange  paradox?  Is  there 
any  prospect  more  terrible  than  that  before  a  dis- 
illusioned man — the  blase  man  who  has  caught  all 
his  "birds"  only  to  find  that  he  has  been  fooled 
by  a  lying  proverb.  He  has  lost  his  life,  his  soul, 
his  chance  of  happiness,  both  here  and  hereafter, 
because  he  preferred  a  lie  of  man  to  the  truth  of 
God.  Why  should  we  not  then  wake  up  in  time? 

I  am  not  writing  fiction,  but  talking  from  facts 
before  my  eyes,  as  well  as  from  'the  common  ex- 
perience of  men.  Believe  it  or  not,  these  are  words 
of  truth  and  soberness,  and  probably  of  vital  interest 
to  my  reader. 

An  Unhappy  Man 

I  live  in  Harley  Street,  near  a  great  square.  A 
friend  came  to  me  the  other  day  and  said,  "Can  you 

*  M.  Maeterlinck. 


TRUE  SPIRITUALISM  243 

do  nothing  to  help  that  poor  man  who  lives  in  the 
square?" 

"What  is  the  matter  with  him?"  I  asked. 

"Only  that  he  is  the  most  miserable  man  I  know." 

"Why  doesn't  he  seek  for  happiness,  then?"  I 
said. 

"That's  just  what  he  has  been  doing  all  his  life." 

"Then  why  is  he  not  happy?" 

"Simply  because  he  has  got  all  he  wants,  which 
seems  always  fatal,  to  happiness." 

He  was  a  poor  boy  once,  but  he  believed  if  he  was 
rich  he  would  be  happy.  He  became  rich. 

He  then  was  .sure  that  if  he  had  a  good  social 
position  he  would  be  happy.  He  got  it.  He  then 
thought  that  what  he  wanted  to  make  him  happy 
was  a  fine,  large  house.  He  bought  it. 

Still  seeking  happiness,  he  discovered  that  what 
he  really  wanted  was  to  adorn  his  walls  with  the 
almost  priceless  pictures  of  the  one  artist  he  adored. 
He,  at  last,  bought  several  for  a  great  sum.  Still 
defeated,  and  growing  old,  he  felt  what  he  yet 
required  to  satisfy  him  was  a  first-rate  chef  to  gratify 
his  fastidious  tastes.  He  got-  one  at  a  great  cost. 
And  now,  having  caught  all  his  birds,  he  is  the  most 
miserable  man  my  friend  knows,  for  they  won't  sing. 

His  mistake  is  obvious,  and  is  twofold:  First,  he 
believed  a  lie,  and  was  undone.  Secondly,  he 
sought  his  happiness  "beneath  the  sun,"  where  it 
isn't  to  be  found. 

The  Truth  at  Last 

Let  him,  even  now,  look  "above  the  sun"  into 
the  face  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  he  will  find  there,  in 

16— 2 


244  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

the  face  of  His  Redeemer,  what  he  has  sought  in 
vain  so  long  in  the  love  of  himself.  The  "joy  un- 
speakable and  full  of  glory"  will  be  his  at  last! 

But  we  haven't  done  with  our  prodigal  yet.  We 
left  him  with  his  birds  all  caught  and  in  his  hand,  at 
the  expense,  it  is  true,  of  wasting  all  his  "substance." 
Not  only  his  money  and  time,  but  his  spirit,  soul, 
and  body.  He  is  now  sent  into  the  fields  to  feed 
swine.  He  opens  his  hand  to  look  at  the  birds  he 
has  caught,  and  lo,  and  behold,  they  are  all  changed 
into  the  likeness  of  unclean  beasts!  He  is  aghast;  he 
is  also  starving.  For  he  has  "spent  all,"  and  got 
nothing  for  it,  save  degradation  and  destitution. 
He  has  pursued  in  vain  all  "beneath  the  sun"  that 
offered  him  happiness  and  finds  himself  now  starving 
by  the  swine-trough,  like  many  a  one  in  London 
to-day  who  has  run  through  life  in  the  same  pursuit. 
"He  came  to  himself" — the  truth  at  last! 

This  is  what  men  need,  "to  come  to  themselves." 
Let  any  man,  I  care  not  what  his  belief  or  disbelief, 
spend  five  minutes  alone  in  considering  if  he  has 
really  got  the  happiness  he  seeks  ?  If  he  is,  or  is  not, 
a  contented  man?  And  he  will  soon  be — as  the 
prodigal  son  was — a  man  with  his'  eyes  opened  at 
last. 

Earthly  Lie  and  Heavenly  Truth 

"I  will  arise  and  go  to  my  Father  and  say  unto 
him,  Father  I  have  sinned,"  he  said.  And  won't  you  ? 
Here  is  the  path  of  happiness:  for  it  is  in  Christ 
that  the  Father's  love  is  shown  to  His  erring  crea- 
tures; and  He  gave  His  Son  that  man  might  be 
delivered  from  this  lie  of  the  devil,  and  at  last  enjoy 


TRUE  SPIRITUALISM  245 

happiness  where  alone  it  is  to  be  found.  For  here 
is  the  marvel:  that  very  proverb  which  we  have 
pilloried  as  a  lie  becomes  a  profound  truth,  once  it 
is  applied  to  things  "above  the  sun."  These 
heavenly  singers,  when  caught,  are,  indeed,  worth 
not  two,  but  a  "hundred"  of  what  they  were  "in 
the  bush."  In  heavenly  joys  only  those  who  have 
grasped  them  know  what  they  are.  These  birds, 
so  far  from  losing  their  song  when  caught,  only  sing 
their  sweetest  when  "in  the  hand."  It  was  when 
the  Queen  of  Sheba  saw  the  glory  of  Solomon  she 
discovered  "the  half  had  not  been  told  her." 
Bernard  of  Cluny,  in  the  dark  ages,  knew  this,  for 
he  sang — 

"The  love  of  Jesus,  what  it  is, 
None  but  His  loved  ones  know." 

It  is  only  when  the  Saviour  is  grasped  by  the  hand 
of  faith  that  the  heart  knows  "fullness  of  joy." 
Here  at  last  is  the  contented  man !  Look  at  him 
the  new  robe,  the  ring,  the  shoes.  See  him  sitting 
at  his  father's  table  in  his  father's  house.  Why 
even  outside  are  heard  the  sounds  of  music  and 
dancing;  for  joy  is  within.  It  is  only  then  that  he 
"begins  to  be  merry";  only  "begins,"  for  there 
is  no  end  to  that  joy ! 

This  is  a  Sermon 

It  is  thus,  and  thus  alone,  that  every  reader  of 
these  pages  may  himself  enter  at  any  moment  into 
the  "joy  of  his  Lord."  Let  him  "come  to  him- 
self"; have  done  with  lies;  let  him  "arise,  and 
go  to  his  Father,  and  say  unto  Him,  Father,  I  have 
sinned." 


246  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

If  this  be  the  result,  in  one  solitary  instance,  of 
reading  these  pages,  this  last  chapter  will  have  done 
more  good  than  all  the  book  beside. 

What's  the  use  of  exposing  errors,  if  one  is  not 
led  into  the  way  of  truth  ? 

I  fear  some  may  by  now  have  more  than  a  sus- 
picion that  they  have  been  listening  to  a  sermon! 
What  does  it  matter  if  they  have,  so  long  as  it  does 
them  good?  Even  sermons  have  their  use  some- 
times ! 

A  Trinity  of  Evil 

Let  me  now,  in  entire  change  of  the  subject, 
transcribe  three  sentences  from  2  Cor.  xi,  4,  where 
St.  Paul  is  warning  us  against  the  final  dangers 
that  will  beset  the  Christian  faith.  He  enumerates 
three:  "  Another  Jesus,  whom  we  did  not  preach." 
"Another  spirit,  which  ye  did  not  receive." 
"Another  gospel,  which  ye  did  not  accept." 
These  three  are  with  us  to-day,  and  are  very 
fairly  represented  in  our  three  most  popular  new 
religions. 

They  are  called  "Christian  Science,  Spiritism, 
and  Theosophy  or  Modernism."* 

I  think  we  must  all  agree  that  in  the  first  stands 
revealed  "another  Jesus,  whom  Paul  did  not  preach"; 
a  fallible  Jesus,  one  who  shared  the  errors  of  "mortal 
mind,"  one  who  served  nobody,  who  did  not  actually 
die,  and  who  never  rose.  A  Jesus  who  did  not, 
"come  to  give  His  life  a  ransom  for  many" — in  short, 
"another  Jesus. "f 

*  I  see  the  great  Lambeth  Congress  is  considering  next  year, 
in  a  special  session,  these  three  Modern  Cults. 

fit  is  interesting  to  note  this  "science"  does  not  present 
"another  God." 


TRUE  SPIRITUALISM  247 

Here  To-day 

May  we  not  also  in  the  same  way  discern  in 
Spiritism,  at  any  rate,  ''another  spirit,"  which  the 
believers  at  Corinth  "did  not  receive"?  The  spirit 
that  possesses  the  mediums  and  soothsayers  of  to-day 
does  not  even  profess  to  be  Divine;*  and  there  is  no 
doubt  that  it  is  not. 

The  analogy  of  "another  gospel"  with  Theosophy 
or,  at  any  rate,  Modernism,  as  represented  by  the 
"New  Theology"  (which;  though  perhaps  extinct 
in  name,  is  very  active  in  being),  is,  indeed,  strikingly 
exact. 

We  have  seen  that  the  coming  deception  was  fore- 
told nearly  two  thousand  years  ago  to  be  "as  the 
serpent  beguiled  Eve  in  his  craftiness"  (2  Cor. 
xi.  3),  and  we  find  on  reference  to  the  story  that 
this  "beguiling"  was  by  three  distinct  and  lying 
statements : — 

The  New  Theology 

ist.  Hath  God  said?  that  is,  "Is  there  an  inspired 
word?"  "Has  the  voice  of  God  been  heard?" 
In  modern  parlance,  "Is  the  Bible  true?"  suggest- 
ing at  once,  "It  is  not;  it  is  no  more  than  any  other 
book";  "we  have  no  inspired  word  of  God," 
which  is,  indeed,  the  first  great  statement  of  the  New 
Theology. 

2nd.  "  Ye  shall  not  surely  die."  "Death  is  not 
the  wages  of  sin."  "Sin  shall  not  be  so  punished." 

*  Even  that  blasphemy  has  I  regret  to  say,  on  good  evidence, 
been  perpetrated  by  spirits  professing  to  be  Christ. 


248  MODERN  SPIRITISM 

"It  is,  indeed,  a  quest  after  God,"  and  deserves 
no  punishment.  Here  is  the  second  foundation  of 
the  New  Theology. 

3rd.  "  Ye  shall  be  as  gods."  The  new  birth,  as 
Mr.  Campbell  has  declared,  "is  when  a  man  knows 
that  he  is  God."  The  Divine  immanence  is  a  doc- 
trine that  is  now  distorted  to  prove  that  the  cul- 
tivation of  one's  own  "divinity"  is  the  only  way 
of  salvation.*  A  truth  is  thus  distorted  into  the 
dangerous  lie  that  was  first  promulgated  by  the 
serpent  in  Eden. 

As  Old  as  Eden 

The  -parallel,  and  the  exact  fulfillment  of  the 
apostle's  predictions,  is  most  striking.  We  all  know 
that  the  distinctive  features  of  Modernism,  a  generic 
name  for  the  new  Theology,  are:  The  Bible  is  not 
inspired,  sin  does  not  deserve  punishment,  and  man 
is  Divine;  and  these  are  the  three  specific  lies  of 
Eden — now  revived  for  the  destruction  of  man. 
What  we  may  call  the  "Trinity  of  Evil"  is  "another 
Jesus,"  "another  Spirit,"  and  "another  Gospel," 
as  foretold  by  St.  Paul.  This  is  now  everywhere 
around  us,  and  it  is,  at  least,  the  duty  of  any  who 
believe  in  the  "same  Jesus,"  in  the  Holy  Spirit,  and 
in  the  Gospel  of  God  to  do  what  they  can  to  open 
the  eyes  of  their  fellow-men  to  the  activity  of  the 
father  of  lies,  who,  however,  has  now  succeeded 
in  persuading  most  men  that  he  does  not  exist! 

*  Scripture  teaches  that  it  is  only  when  man,  "dead  in 
trespasses  and  sins,"  is  saved  by  Christ  that  the  Holy  Spirit 
dwells  in  him,  which  alone  constitutes  the  true  Divine 
immanence. 


TRUE  SPIRITUALISM  249 

My  Object 

My  work  is  done;  but  I  am  deeply  conscious  of  its 
imperfection. 

I  can  only  urge  that  I  have  sought,  in  all  honesty, 
from  my  own  knowledge,  and  from  all  the  sources 
available,  to  present  a  fair  picture  of  Modern 
Spiritism,  both  in  its  creed  and  practice.  Any 
knowledge  I  may  have  of  psychology  has,  I  think, 
helped  me  to  understand  the  arguments  of  such 
men  as  Thomas  Jay  Hudson,  Myers,  Sir  William 
Barrett,  and  others  who  have  expounded  the  wonders 
and  mysteries  of  psychic  power,  as  revealed  in  the 
"Unconscious  Mind"  and  elsewhere.  These  I 
have  faithfully  tried  to  represent  in  their  true  role, 
as  the  source,  doubtless,  of  most,  but  not  all,  of  the 
wonders  of  Spiritism. 

With  regard  to  the  residue,  attributed  by  Spiritists 
to  the  agency  of  the  spirits  of  the  departed,  I  have 
endeavoured  to  show  that  this  is,  to  say  the  least  of 
it,  most  improbable,  and  that  a  far  more  likely 
solution  is  that  they  are  due  to  daemons — some  minor 
form  of  evil  spirits. 

As  to  Necromancy 

As  to  necromancy,  one  has  not  hesitated,  in  view 
of  the  denunciations  of  Scripture,  plainly  to  express 
one's  disapproval;  but  at  the  same  time  I  have 
given  what  evidence  I  could,  both  in  favour  of  and 
against  it.  I  have  also  reached  the  conclusion  that, 
on  the  whole,  no  such  communication  is  absolutely 
proved;  while  on  the  other  hand,  the  communica- 
tions are  in  too  many  cases  of  such  a  nature  that  it  is 
eeply  dishonouring  to  our  beloved  dead  to  believed 


MODERN  SPIRITISM 

that  they  have  come  from  them.  I  have  not  only 
pointed  out  the  evil,  but  the  good,  so  far  as  it  exists, 
in  Spiritism;  but  I  have  neither  disguised  nor  denied 
its  loudly  asserted  opposition  to  Christianity. 

While  Spiritism  cannot  for  a  moment  be  regarded 
as  a  serious  rival  to  Christianity,  it  is,  in  my  opinion, 
one  of  the  most  dangerous  means  that  are  used  to 
catch  the  unwary. 

The  Evil  Good  Men  Do 

One  has  only  once  more  to  study  that  marvellous 
drama  at  Philippi  to  appreciate  its  power  for 
deception,  and  when  such  justly  honoured  names  as 
those  of  Sir  Wm.  Crookes,  W.  H.  F.  Myers,  Sir 
Oliver  Lodge,  and  Sir  A.  Conan  Doyle  are  associated 
with  it,  and  give  it  the  sanction  of  their  support, 
it  is  no  wonder  that  lesser  men  readily  follow  their 
lead.*  It  is  only  just,  however,  to  add  that  the  first 
two  of  the  four  were  solely  scientific  students  of 
marvels  they  did  not  understand,  and  only  two  can 
be  regarded  as  active  supporters  of  the  distorted 
reflection  of  Theosophy,  which  constitutes  the  creed 
of  Spiritism. 

I  have  finally  given  in  brief,  a  sketch  of  what 
True  Spiritualism  really  is,  and  now  I  must  leave  my 
reader  to  judge  for  himself  (as  indeed  all  men  must 
do)  where  the  truth  lies,  and  to  follow  it  whole- 
heartedly. 

*  It  is  thus  that  a  really  good  man  may,  unconsciously,  do 
much  harm. 


INDEX 


ABBOT,  D.  P.,  a  fraud,  193 
Absurdities    of    "Raymond," 

47 

Absurdities,  some,  106 
Agapemone,  188 
Alexander,  Professor,  41 
All  live  by  faith,  54 
Alternating  personality,  122 
American  origin  of  Spiritism, 

20 

Ames,  Julia,  58 
Anak,  Sons  of,  229 
Andre",  C.  G.,  on  Spritism,  17 
Angels  and  men,  229 
Animal  servants,  67 
Another  world,  1 1 
Another  world,  fact  of,  116 
Antichrist,  228 
Antiquity  of  the  aura,  142 
Apotheosis  of  man,  238 
Apotheosis  of  Spiritualism,  6 
Appalling  bathos,  62 
Apparition  of  my  brother,  1 46 
Apparations,  136 
Apparitions  before  death,  147 
Apparitions  common,  147 
Arab  gentleman,  44,  116 
"Arab,"    Professor    Richet's, 

36 

Astral  body,  38 
Astral  body  or  perispirit,  209 
Asylum  chaplain,  132 
Atheist's  faith,  54 
Attempted  explanations,  83 
Audience  hypnotised,  167 
Audience  is  docile,  74 
Audience,  obsession  of,  29 
Aunt  of  Mr.  Stead,  166 
Aura,  84,  137 
Aura,  antiquity  of,  140 
Aura,  box  to  see,  138 
Aura  described,  139 
Aura  in  colors,  141 


Automatic  writing,  danger  of, 
189 

BABY  and  spirit  form,  41 
Baby  preaching,  126 
Baggally,  Mr.,  and  Eusapia, 

79 

Balfour,  Hon.  Gerald,  102,  202 
Balfour,  Mr.  Arthur,  20 
Banalities  of  "Raymond,"  67 
Banknote  and  bishop,  203 
Baptist  baby,  123 
Baptist  ministers,  two,  123 
Barlemont,  Dr.,  38 
Barrett,  Sir  Wm.,  20,  24,  33, 
34,  77,  78,  84,  93,  94,  101, 
103,  187,  189,  219,  231 
Bashan,  giant  cities  of,  30 
Bates,  E.  R.,  and  spirit-rap- 

Ping,  43 

Bathos  in  "Christopher,"  64 
Bayswater  lady  "possessed," 

119 

Becquerel,  the  "N"  rays,  141 
Beginning   of  Modern  Spirit- 
ism, 28 

Benson,  Hugh,  114 
Bergson,  Professor  Henri,  21 
Bernard  of  Cluny,  245 
Bible  and  Early  Church,  214 
Bible  and  Spritism,  15 
Bible,  do  we  believe  it,  196 
Bible,  our  mediaeval,  8 
Bible  Spiritualism,  16 
Bible  true,  assumed,  no 
Birds  and  swine,  244 
Birrell,  Mr.,  at  Bristol,  74 
Bishop,  Mr.  Irving,  203 
Blavatsky,  Madame,  100 
Blood-shedding,       abhorrent, 

218 

Blue-bird,  the,  242 
Body,  lengthening  of,  38 


251 


252 


INDEX 


Boldero,  General,  40 
Borrowed  plumes,  232 
Botazzi,  Professor,  78 
Bound  ether,  210 
Bourne  as  Brown,  123 
Bourne,  Rev.  Ansel,  123 
Box  to  see  aura,  138 
Boyd-Carpenter,-  Bishop,    20 
Bramwell,  Dr.  Milne,  86,  158 
Brass-plate,     the     imaginary, 

155 

Bray,  Professor,  142 

British  Quarterly  Review,   191 

British    Spiritist    Association, 

23 

Browning,  Robert,  95 
Buchanan,  Dr.  J.  Rodes,  130 
Bureau,  Stead's,  23 
Butcher,  Professor,  202 

CANAANITES       exterminated, 

229 

Cardec,  Allan,  217 
Carlyle,  Thos.,  204 
Carrington,  H.,  and  Eusapia, 

79 

Century,    The  Nineteenth,  233 
Chambers,  Rev.  A.,  84 
Chance  of  God,  a,  210 
Change  or  perish,  217 
Chaplain  of  asylum,  132 
Child  of  Theosophy,  233 
Christ,  any  one  believed  but, 

255 
Christian    doctor,    experience 

of,  39 

Christianity  a  living  force,   14 
Christianity  and  Spiritism,  20 
Christianity  first,  239 
Christianity  still  fresh,  237 
Christian  mysteries,  102 
Christian  Science,  246 
"Christopher,"  63 
Clairaudience,  150 
Clairvoyance,  142 
Clear  thinking,  59 
Collective  hypnosis,    155    158 
Coloured  aura,  141 
Communion  with  the  dead,  207 
Compressed  ether,  84 


Conclusions    of    Maeterlinck, 

92 

Conjurers,  85 

Conjurers  and  Spiritists,  49 
Conjuring  and  Spiritism,  39 
Contradictory  spirits,  1 06 
Controls,  28 
Controls,  Indian,  42 
Conversion  in  dreams,  10 
Cook's  diagnosis,  124 
Cook,  Miss  F.,  the  medium, 

37,  193 

Cosmic  mind,  i 
Crawford,  Dr.,  34 
Crawford,  Lord,  36 
Crookes,  Sir  Wm.,  20,  24,  33, 

34,  35,  36,  37,  38,  40,  57,  76 
79,  80,  81,  90,  92,  93,  120, 
136,  173,  219,  250 

Crookes,  Sir  Wm.,  and  Spirit- 
ist religion,  40 

Cross-correspondence,  108 

Crowds,  power  in,  15 

Cruel  case,  a,  207 

Cryptomnesia,  87 

Current  scepticism,  120 

Cyclops,  the,  133 

DAEMONS,  82,  84 

Daily    Chronicle   and    Myers, 

169 
Danger  of  collective  hypnosis, 

1 60 

Danger  of  beginning  Spirit- 
ism, 189 

Danger  of  planchette,  114,117 
Danger  of  Spiritism,  175 
Dangers  are  seven,  183 
Danger  to  sensitives,  185 
Darkness,  Prince  of,  224 
Dark  problem,  a,  113 
Daylight  hallucination,  156 
Deacon's  effort,  the,  126 
Dead,  communion  with,  207 
Dead  have  spoken,  227 
Dead,  the,  and  Spiritism,  97 
Dead,  the,  no  messages  from, 

70 

Death,  apparitions  after,  146 
Death,  life  after,  121 


INDEX 


253 


Death,  survival  after,  212 
Degradation  of  humanity,  49 
""Demonism  of  the  Ages,"  48 
Demonstration    of    collective 

hypnotism,  159 
Description  of  aura,  139 
Desire  to  believe,  the,  204 
Devil  "possession"  real,   123 
Devils  denied,  48 
Dicyanin,  138 
Difficulty     of     identification, 

104 

""Dionysius,  Ear  of,"  102,  202 
Disappointing,     ' '  Raymond, ' ' 

46 

Discarnate  spirits,  98 
Discrepancies,  some,  105 
Disgust  of  reader,  40 
JDobson  on  Spiritism,  74 
Docile  audience,  74 
Dog  and  spirit  form,  41 
Dogma  of  Spiritism,  208 
Dogmatism  premature,  109 
Double  personality,  123 
Down  and  up  grades,  12 
Doyle,  Sir  A.  Conan,  24,  25, 

39.  93.  IO1.  !92.  *99>  2O2, 
208,  214,  215,  216,  217,  219, 
220,  235,  250 

Drama  at  Philippi,  224 

Drama  of  farmer,  8 

Dreams,  10 

Drunken  mediums,  36 

Dunraven,  Earl  of,  36 

Dupont, Madame,  200 

EARLY  Church  and  Bible,  214 
Early  Spiritism,  18 
Eden,  Dr.  F.  van,  94 
Edward  VII.,  King,  207 
Electric  fluid  at  seances,  73 
Encyclopedia  Britannica,  17 
Endor,  Witch  of,  226 
English  in  other  world,  47 
English  Spiritism,  19 
Erasmus  and  Grocyn,  108 
Error  as  to  spirits,  98 
Ether,  compressed,  84 
Ether,  impression  on,  143 
Eulenberg,  Dr.  A.,  95 


Eusapia  Palladino,  32,  36 
Evidence  incontestable,  81 
Evidence  of  spirit  world,   37 
Evil  association  of  Spiritism,  4 
Evil  of  Stead's  bureau,  186 
Evil  spirits,  48 
Evil  that  good  men  do,  250 
Examination  of  testimony,  45 
Exhaustion  of  medium,  75 
Experience  of  Christian  doc- 
tor, 39    ' 

Explanation  attempted,  83 
Explanation  of  phenomena,  72, 

85 

Exposure  of  Eusapia,  77 
Eye  of  the  mind,  the,  2 

FACT  of  another  world,  1 1 1 
Fact  of  "possession,"  120 
Facts  proved,  78 
Failures  of  Spiritism,  190 
Faith,  all  live  by,  54 
Faith,  atheist's,  54 
False  prediction,  227 
False  statements,  199 
Faraday,  95 

Faraday  and  "Raymond,"  47 
Farmer,  the  rich,  7 
Farmer,  tragedy  of,  10 
Fechner,  Professor,  39 
Feda,  46 

Fielden,  Mr.,  and  Eusapia,  79 
Fielden-Ould,  Rev.,  215 
Fifty  per  cent,  chance  of  God, 

2IO 

Fifty  years  of  study,  178 
Fire,  tongues  of,  39 
First  warning,  23 
Flammation,  Professor  C.,  32, 

35,  90,  101,  184 
Floating  furniture,  33 
Floating  men,  39 
Florentin,  Abraham,  spirit  of, 

42 
Flournoy,  Professor,  107,  175, 

179,  181 

Forbes,  Mrs.,  in  danger,  182 
Force  of  Christianity,  14 
Force,  the  unknown,  82 
Fourteen  and  forty,  127 


254 


INDEX 


Fourth  dimension,  1 1 
Foxes  and  Dr.  Funk,  200 
Fox  family  in  New  York,  20 
Fraud  and  folly,  192 
Fraud  and  money,  72 
Fraud  everywhere,  202 
Fraud,  question  of,  31 
Fraudulent      materialisation, 

165 
French  collective  hypnosis, 

173 

Fresnel  and  ether,  210 
Friend  Davies,  25 
Funk,  Dr.,  and  Foxes,  200 
Funk,  Dr.,  and  fraud,  193 
Furniture  moved  without  con- 
tact, 33 
Future,  seeing  the,  149 

GASPARIAN,  Count  de,  90 
Giant  cities  of  Bashan,  230 
Gift  of  second  sight,  145 
Gladstone,  Rt.  Hon.  W.  E.,  20 
Glasgow,  Sir  A.  Conan  Doyle 

at,  39 

Glimpses  of  next  world,  57 
Gnosis,  true  and  false,  214 
God  immanent,  1 1 
Gospel,  another,  246 
Grades,  down  and  up,  12 
Gramophone,  the,  67 
Greatest  physical  marvel,  36 
Great  spirit  world,  3 
Great  War  and  Spiritism,  the, 

57 

Grocyn  and  Erasmus,  108 
Grotesque  concept,  67 
Grown-up  baby,  123 
Guernsey,  lady  at,  44 
Guild  of  the  Silver  Fern,  I 
Gurney,  Mr.  Ed.,  20,  147 

HAECKEL,  Professor,  53 
Haeckel's  method,  97 
Hallucination,  155 
Happiness  above  the  sun,  242 
Happiness,  pursuit  of,  241 
Harp  and  piano  .played  on,  41 
Hasty  theories  condemned,  6 1 
Heaven,  mind  in,  68 


Heaven,  travesty  of,  68 
Hell  abolished,  66 
Hepworth  Dixon,  23 
Hidden  dangers  of   Spiritism, 

Hill,  J.  Arthur,  194,  201 
History  of  Modern  Spiritism, 

17 
Hodgson,  Dr.,  42,  70,  90,  93, 

100,  103,  123,  154 
Hodgson,  Dr.,  and  Moses,  42 
Hodgson     and     Maeterlinck , 

102 

Holborn       Restaurant       and 

"possession,"  116 
Holman    Hunt    and    Ruskin, 

211 
Home,  D.  D.,  20,  35,  38,  41, 

76,  96,  102,  173,  194 
Hopkins,  Rev.  Evan,  21 
Horsley,  Sir  Victor,  155 
Hound  of  Heaven,  187 
Housemaid  medium,  39 
How  God  speaks,  9 
Hudson,  Rev.  C.  E.,  186,  190, 

233 

Hudson,  T.  J.,  in  myths,  205 
Hudson,  T.  J.,  83,  87,  104,  192 
Human  personality,  i 
Husted,  Dr.  A.  D.,  112 
Hypnosis,  collective,  155 
Hypnotic  memory,  87 
Hyslop,  Professor,  82,  93,  100, 

101,  150,  202 

IDENTIFICATION,  difficulty  of, 
.  105 

Ill-balanced,  wreck  of  the,  57 
Imaginary  brass-plate,  155 
Imaginary  sister,  205 
Immanence  of  God,  1 1 
Immortality,  183 
Impression  in  ether,  143 
Incontestable  evidence,  81 
Indian  jugglers,  91 
Indian,  North  American,  con- 
trols, 42 

Infant  minister,  123 
Intuition,  83 
Irving,  Rev.  Edward,  20 


INDEX 


255 


JACKS,  Professor,  28,  44,  104, 

204 
James,  Professor,  W.,  70,  90, 

91,  93,  101,  103,  112,  201 

Jericho,  stone  from,  131 
Jesuit  and  Jesus,  4 
Jesus,  another,  246 
Joining  hands,  73 
Josephine,  story  of,  87 
Julia,  Ames,  more  of,  65 
Julia  and  the  other  world,  58 
Julia  and  W.  T.  Stead,  58 
Julia,  letters  from,  115 
Julia's  beautiful  words,  218 

KA  T  and  Spiritism,  88 
Kardec,  Allan,  19,  40,  100,  203 
Karma,  64 

Katie  King,  36,  37,  57 
Kelvin  and  "Raymond,"  47 
Keswick  Convention,  21 
Kilner's,  Dr.,  work,  138 
King,  Mr.  Robert,  36 
Knotting  of  a  rope,  38 

LABOUCHERE,  Mr.,  203 
Lady  C—   —  and  visions,  144 
Lady  of  rank  "possessed,"  148 
Lane,     Sir    Hugh,    and   Lusi- 

tania,  43 

Lang,  Andrew,  106,  203 
Lanslots,  D.  L.,  67 
Lanslots,    D.     L.,    "Spiritism 

Unveiled,"  106 
Lappius,  Dr.,  74 
Latent  powers,  180 
Latest  Spiritist  book,  24 
Lebanon  Hospital,  230 
Legend  of  Russians,  170 
Lengthening  of  body,  38 
Letters  from  Julia,  115 
Levitation  no  proof  of  spirit 

world,  37 

Life  after  death,  14 
Light,  1 02 

Locale  of  other  world,  62 

Lodge,  Sir  Oliver,  24,  45,  46, 

47,62,  67,68,  77,  81,  85,  88, 

93.  99,  i°8,  115,  116,  191, 

193,  204,  210,  212,  232,  250 


Lombroso,   Professor,  35,  90, 

93,  193,  201,  212 
Loss  of  reason,  45,  176 
Loss  of  weight  of  medium,  35 
Lost  central  eye,  133 
Luminous  paint,  166 
Lusitania,  44 
Luther's  wife,  204 
Lying  proverb,  241 

MAETERLINCK,  M.,  on  Spirit- 
ism, 23,  35,  57,  81,  87,  88, 
91,  94,  102,  107,  108,  109, 

152,   153,  221,  242 

Maid  at  Philippi,  223 
Maitland,  Mr.  E.,  194 
Man,  apotheosis  of,  238 
Man  his  own  saviour,  218 
Man's  pitiful  pride,  238 
Manual  of  true  Spiritualism, 

75 

Many  lunatics,  184 
Mars'  Hill,  Paul  on,  4 
Marvel,  greatest  physical,  36 
Marvellous  drama,  8 
Material  and  spirit  planes,  7 
Materialisation,  36,  210 
Maudsley,  Dr.  H.,  189 
Mediaeval  Bible,  our,  8 
Medium,  housemaid,  39 
Medium,  I  examine  a,  162 
Medium,  Sludge  the,  96 
Mediums,  29 
Mediums    don't    know    who 

speaks,  101 

Mediums,  psychology  of,  75 
Meeting  of  the  Guild,  3 
Melancthon,  204 
Men  and  angels,  229 
Men  floating,  35 
Mesmer,  19 

Messages  come  from  spirits,  93 
Messages  from  myths,  201 
Miln.Mrs.,  220 
Mind,  cosmic,  I 
Mind,  unconscious,  I 
Modernism,  246 
Modern  Spritism,  history  of, 

i? 

Money  and  fraud,  72 


256 


INDEX 


Monists,  53 
Monk,  vision  of  a,  145 
Monstrous  Unions,  229 
Moonstone,  46 
More  than  telepathy,  89 
Morris,  Mrs.,  and  Stead,  60 
Morselli,  Professor,  84 
Morselli's,  Dr.,  mother,  36 
Moses  and  Elias,  228 
Moses  and  Hodgson,  42 
Moses,  Rev.  W.  Stainton,  20, 
32,  38,  42,  43,  48,  66,  75,  76, 
89,  102,  108,  195,  203,  204, 
207,  218 

Moseley,  Mr.  Sydney,  24 
Mother,  Dr.  Morselli's,  36 
Moving  furniture,  33 
Much  beyond  our  reason,  91 
Mud  in  Heaven,  68 
Muller,  Dr.  Egbert,  184 
Multiple  personality,  122 
Munsterberg,  Professor,  77 
Myers,  F.  W.  H.,  30,  43,  57, 
63,  64,  77,  86,  89,  93,  99, 
147,  164,  168,  169,  193,  219, 
250 
Myth  of  Russians,  171 

NAPOLEON,  104 
Necromancy,  98,  114,  185,  249 
Necromany,  is  it  possible?  99 
Nephilim,  the,  229 
Newbolt,  Professor,  102 
Newman,  Cardinal,  94,  204 
New  revelation,  216 
New  Theology,  247 
Newton,  Sir  Isaac,  104 
Next  world,  telepathy  in,  88 
Nineteenth  Century,  233 
Noble  study,  a,  10 
No  complete  solution,  90 
No  dogmas  in  science,  220 
No  happiness  under  the  sun, 

243 

No  mediums  allowed,  222 
No  messages  from  the  dead,  70 
No  positive  results,  205 
No  proof  of  psycho-dynamics, 

83 
No  rival  to  Christianity,  250 


No  test  conditions  of  old,  76 
No  vicarious  sacrifice,  218 
"N"  rays,  141 

OBEDIENT  tables,  33 
Objective  or  subjective,  3 
Objective  voices,  10 
Object  of  book,  249 
Obsession  of  audience,  29 
Occult  Review  on  danger,  187 
Ochovowicz,  77 
Offensive  blasphemy,  216 
Officer  lost  his  reason,  186 
Old  as  Eden,  248 
Old  lady  and  prayer,  143 
Osty,  Dr.,  88 
Other  world  and  Julia,  58 
Other  world,  English,  47 
Other  world  of  Spiritists,  53 
Our  Father  in  Heaven,  1 1 

PALLADINO,  Eusapia,  36,  59, 
76,  79,  193,  198,  199 

Palladino,  exposure  of,  77 
Paracelsus  and  auras,  137 
Paralyzed  seances,  199 
Past  an  open  book,  131 
Paul  discerns  the  snare,  225 
Paul  on  Mars'  Hill,  4 
Pearsall-Smith,  Mr.  H.,  21 
Peebles,  Dr.,  48 
Pendulum  in  glass  case,  38 
People,  practically  two,  128 
Perish  or  change,  217 
Perispirit,  209 
Perplexing  position,  125 
Personality,  double,  122 
Perspective,  true,  237 
Phantasms  of  the  living,  60 
Phantom  forms,  81 
Phenomena,  established,  80 
Phenomena  of  Spiritism,  2 
Phenomena,  explanation  of,  72 
Phenomena,  psychic,  41 
Philippi,  maid  at,  223 
Phinuit,  Dr.,  167,  200 
Photographs,  spirit,  38 
Photography,  spirit,  82 
Physical  and  psychic  pheno- 
mena, 29  j 


INDEX 


257 


Physical  marvels,  40 
Physical  phenomena,  38 
Piano  and  harp  played  on,  41 
Pious  Quaker,  121 
Piper,  Mrs.,  23,  32,  41,  42,  43, 

59,   76,   89,    100,    101,    107, 

203,  204 

Piteous  sight,  a,  167 
Planchette,  113 
Pneuma  and  psuche,  215 
Podmore  and  Stead,  61 
Podmore,  Mr.  F.,  32,  85,  205 
"Possessed"     German     lady, 

118 

"Possession,"  48,  113 
"Possession,"  a  fact,  120 
"  Possession,"  Bayswater  lady, 

119 
"Possession"    in    restaurant, 

116 
"Possession,"  Sir  O.  Lodge  on, 

"5 

Possibility  of  necromancy,  99 
Power  in  crowds,  157 
Power  of  Christianity,  240 
Powers    of    the    unconscious 

mind,  86 

Practically  two  people,  128 
Prayer  and  old  lady,  143 
Prayer  at  seances,  28 
Pride  of  man,  238 
Prince,  Dr.  H.  J.,  188 
Prince  of  Darkness,  the,  224 
Private    Abraham    Florentin, 

202 

Prodigal  son,  241 
Proved  facts,  78 
Prussian  Court  and  lady,  44 
Psychic  advance,  trend  of,  140 
Psychical    Research    Society, 

20 

Psychic  phenomena,  41 
Psychic  phenomena  explained, 

85 

Psycho-dynamics,  83,  90 
Psychology  of  mediums,  7 
Psychometry,  130 
Psychometry  in  Harley  Street, 

132 
Pursuit  of  happiness,  240 


Puzzle  of  Maeterlinck,  94 
Pythagorean  theory,  209 

QUAKER,  the  pious,  121 
Question  of  fraud,  31 
Quest  of  Spiritism,  3,  5 

RAPS,  simulated,  18 
Raupert,  Professor  J.  C.,  102, 

188 

Raupert  on  planchette,  114 
"Raymond,"  45,  46,  68,  69, 

84,  91,  194,  197,  220,  233 
"Raymond,"    absurdities    of, 

47 

"Raymond,"  banalities  of,  67 
Reader,  disgust  of,  40 
Reading  thoughts,  133 
Real  devil  "possession,"  122 
Reason,  loss  of,  45 
Reason,  much  beyond,  91 
Reason  of  deluge,  229 
Recovery  of  baby,  127 
Redfeather,  46 

Regent's  Park,  seance  in,  161 
Religion     of     Spiritism     and 

Crookes,  40 

Remarkable  audience,  162 
Research,  Spiritual,  16 
Revelation,  the  New,  216 
Rhodes,  Cecil,  210 
Richet,  Professor,  24,  102,  201 
Richet,  Professor,  and  Arab, 

136 

Rich  fool,  the,  7 
Roches,  Col.  de,  38,  87 
Rock  and  sand,  13 
Rope,  knotting  of  a,  38 
Rosary  of  Julia,  63 
Ruskin    and    Holman    Hunt, 

211 
Russian  myth,  169 

SAMUEL  and  Saul,  226 
Sand  and  Rock,  13 
Sanity  no  protection,  171 
Scepticism,  current,  140 
Sceptics  in  Spiritism,  95 
Schiaparelli,  193 
Schreibner,  Professor,  39 


258 


INDEX 


Science  and  Spiritism,  219 
Science  has  no  dogma,  220 
Scientific  tests,  77 
Scott,  Sir  Gilbert,  44 
Scott,  Sir  Walter,  44,  200 
Scripture  on  sorcery,  22 
Seance,  conditions  of,  15 
Seance,  electric  fluid  at,  73 
Seance  in  Regent's  Park,  161 
Seance,  paralyzed,  199 
Stances  and  demons,  48 
Second  sight,  136,  142 
Seed-grounds  of  demons,  48 
Seeing  the  future,  149,  172 
Sellin,  Professor,  131 
Sermon,  a,  245 
Servants,  animals  as,  67 
Seven  dangers,  182 
Seven  spheres  on  Theosophy, 

64 
Seventy    immoral    mediums, 

184 

Sidgwick,  Mrs.,  32,   147,   194 
Sidgwick,  Professor,  H.,  20,  79 
Silver  Fern,  Guild  of,  I 
Simplon  Tunnel,  239 
Simulated  raps,  18 
Sinnett's,    A.   P.,   experience, 

182 
Sinnett,  A.  P.,  and  Spiritism, 

5 

Sludge  the  medium,  96 
Smith,  Fanny,  127 
Snare  discerned  by  Paul,  225 
Society,  Psychic  Research,  20, 
30,  43,  57,  76,  88,  93,  94, 
104,  127,  142,  147,  182,  185 
Some  absurdities,  106 
Some  discrepancies,  105 
Sorcery  forbidden,  221 
Sorcery,  Scripture  on,  222 
Special  apparitions,  148 
Spheres,  seven  revolving,  107 
Spirit,  another,  246 
Spirit-controls,  28 
Spirit-form  and  baby,  41 
Spirit  in  the  wood,  34 
Spirit  in  material  plane,  7 
Spiritism,  246 
Spiritism  andChristianity,  206 


Spiritism  and  conjurers,  39,  40 
Spiritism  and  soul,  215 
Spritism  and  Spiritualism,  4 
Spiritism  and  S.P.R.,  211 
Spiritism  and  the  Bible,  13 
Spiritism  and  the  dead,  97 
Spritism  and  the  Great  War, 

5i 

Spiritism  and  Theosoply,   18, 

64,  69 

Spritism    anti-Christian,    108 
Spiritism  a  result  of  unbelief, 

56 

Spiritism  as  a  law,  217 
Spiritism,  dangers  of,  175 
Spiritism,  hidden  dangers  of, 

5° 

Spiritism  in  England,  19 

Spiritism  in  history,  18 
Spiritism  not  a  science,  201 
Spiritism,  Times  on,  56 
"Spiritism  Unveiled,"  67 
Spiritist  dogma,  208 
Spiritist,  non-Christian,  209 
Spiritist's  phenomena,  33 
Spirit  photographs,  38 
Spirits,  contradictory,  106 
Spirits,  errors  of,  98 
Spirits,  evil,  48 
Spirits,   messages  come  from, 

93 

Spiritual  body,  208 
Spirtualism,  4,  235 
Spirtualism,  manual  of,  15 
Spiritualism,  true,  213 
Spiritualism  true,  wanted,  13 
Spiritual  man,  the,  235 
Spiritual  Research,  16 
S.P.R.,  219 

S.P.R.  and  Spiritism,  211 
S.P.R.,  treasurer  of,  22 
Statistics  of  Spiritism,  23 
Stead,  W.  T.,  201,  203 
Stead,  W.  T.,  and  Julia,  58, 

H5 

Stead  and  Mrs.  Morris,  60 
Stead  and  Podmore,  61 
Stead  and  C.  Rhodes,  210 
Stead  and  stance,  161 
Stead's  bureau,  23 


INDEX 


259 


Stead's  bureau,  danger  of,  186 
Stead's  explanation,  164 
Stead's  mind  reproduced,  62 
Stead  safe  at  sea,  227 
Stone  from  Jericho,  131 
Subjective  or  objective,  3 
Survival  after  death,  212 
Swedenborg,   E.,    19,   66,    88, 

203 
Swine  and  birds,  244 

TABLE-FLOATING,  34 
Telekinesis,  83,  180 
Telepathy,  6,  30,  31,  83,  85, 

86,  ioo,  133 

Telepathy   in  next  world,  88 
Telepathy  not  all,  89 
Tennyson  on  necromancy,  191 
Testimony,    examination    of, 

35 

Test  of  Sir  Wm.  Crookes,  78 
Theology,  the  New,  247 
Theories,  unproved,  84 
Theosophic  nightmares,   65 
Theosophy,  208,  221 
Theosophy  and  Hill,  66 
Theosophy  and  Spiritism,  64, 

69 

Theosophy  and  water,  18 
Theosophy,  the  child  of,  233 
Thinness  of  veil,  207 
Thinning  of  wall,  213 
Thompson,  R.  J.,  77 
Thornton,  Mrs.,  experience  of, 

183 

Thought-reading,    133 
Thought  struck  me,  a,  9 
Three  alternatives,  109 
Timely  warning,  114 
Times  on  necromancy,  190 
Times  on  Spiritism,  56 
Titchborne  case,  106 
Tongues  of  fire,  39 
Too  soon  to  dogmatise,  109 
Tragedy  of  farmer,  10 
Trances,  75 

Travelling  two  ways,  12 
Travers-Smith,  Mrs.,  43 
Travesty  of  Heaven,  68 
Treasurer  of  S.P.R.,  22 


Trend  of  psychic  advance,  148 
Trinity  of  evil,  246 
Trollope,  Mr.  T.  A.,  27 
True  and  false  gnosis,  214 
True  perspective,  236 
True  Spiritualism,  213,  250 
True  Spiritualism  wanted,  13 
Tuckey,  Dr.  Lloyd,  123 
Turk  on  the  table,  159 
Two  places  at  once,  6l 
Tyndall  and  "Raymond,"  47 

UNBELIEF   Spiritism  a   result 

of,  56 

Unconscious  mind,  i 
Unconscious    mind    accepted, 

129 
Unconscious  mind  power  of, 

86 

Unhappy  man,  an,  242 
Unhealthy,  Spiritist  atmos- 

sphere,  49 

Unknown  force,  an,  82 
Unproved  Theories,  84 
Unsatisfactory,  "  Raymond ' ' 

is,  47 

Up  and  down  grades,  12 
Useful  warnings,  152 
Useless  clairaudience,  151 
Useless  foresight,  149 

VERRALL,  Professor,  202 
Vibrations,  136 
Vicarious  sacrifice,  no,  218 
Violett,  Dr.  Marcell,  34,  81, 

1 88,  209 

Visions  in  Cumberland,  144 
Visions  of  curate,  142 
Voices,  objective,  10 
Voices  often  objective,  5 

WALLACE,  Dr.  A.  R.,  93,  95, 
101,  219 

Walls  getting  thin,  212 
Walls  of  Jericho,  21 
Warnings    against    Spiritism, 

22 

Warnings,  useful,  152 
War-widows,  45 
Webb-Peploe,  Preb.,  21 


260  INDEX 

Weber,  Professor,  39  Window,   floating  out  of,   36 

West-end  curate,  142  Winslow,  Dr.  Forbes,  184 

Weymouth's  translation,  8  Wisdom  of  prophets,  231 

What  is  the  aura?  140  Witch  of  Endor,  226 

What  "possession"  is,   116  World  of  evil  spirits,  236 

Whence   do   messages   come?  Wreck  of  the  ill-balanced,   57 

109  Wynne,  Rev.  W.,  30 
White  Eagle  control,  199 

Wilberforce,   Canon,   66,    195  ZOLLNER,  Professor,  39 


A     000997822     2 


CENTRAL  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 
University  of  California,  San  Diego 

DATE  DUE 


MAR  1  8  1974 

MAR  0  4  RFC-0 

MAY  1  0  1932 

ADD  09  nrr'n 

RrtvTTT  \iil\j 

«rR  2  o  1982 

AU605B83 

AUG241983 

DEC  1  5  1984 

UL.V  A  U    UOT 

IAN  94  ftRS 

^jHn  »*  iwoj 

C/39 

UCSD  Libr. 

